It was nearing the end of the road for The Merrymakers concert party. Such companies of entertainers touring the small towns and larger villages of East Anglia and playing in draughty parish halls to unsophisticated audiences were finding the going more and more difficult. For Howard Layton, player-manager of the troupe it was a worrying time. He sensed he was fighting a losing battle against the competition of cinema and radio, and with audiences steadily shrinking the gap between income and expenditure was narrowing alarmingly. But it was the murder of the bright young star of the show that proved to be the hardest blow he had to bear. For Debbie was his own daughter, and he and his wife Gloria had had ambitious plans for her career on the stage. And why would anyone want to kill her anyway?

Genre: Mystery