In the
vestry of St Matthew's Church,
Paddington, two bodies are discovered with their throats slashed. One is a
tramp; the other is Sir Paul Berowne, a
baronet and recently resigned
government minister. Poet and detective Adam Dalgliesh investigates. Dalgliesh knew Berowne slightly. Berowne had consulted him about a
poison pen letter and an article in the
Paternoster Review about two employees of the Berowne family who had died: Theresa Nolan, his mother's nurse who had killed herself after an abortion; and Diana Travers, his domestic servant, who had drowned. Berowne had recently spent the night in the vestry of St Matthew's, and apparently had had a religious experience, after which he had resigned his government position. He had asked to spend another night in the vestry, after which he was murdered. Berowne's brother, Major Sir Hugo Berowne, had been killed in Northern Ireland, after which Paul inherited the baronetcy, and married Hugo's fiancée Barbara within five months of a car crash with Paul driving which killed Paul's first wife. Barbara had been having an affair with her cousin Stephen Lampart while engaged to Hugo, which she continued after her marriage to Paul. Diana Travers had drowned after an evening at the Black Swan, a restaurant. Henry, the doorman at the Black Swan, saw someone that night, soaking wet but walking towards the river. Paul then turned up after midnight at his constituency office with a scratched face. Paul had lent a copy of a new novel by Millicent Gentle to his cleaner. The novel had been given to Paul on the day of Diana Travers' drowning by the novelist, whom Dalgliesh visits. Gentle says she saw Paul fighting with someone (probably Dominic Swayne, Barbara's brother), after which Paul threw him into the river. As Gentle moved away, she could hear Swayne's companion, Diana, laughing at him, but then the laughter suddenly stopped. Dalgliesh begins to suspect Swayne of letting Diana drown and killing Paul, motivated by hatred after being thrown in the river by Paul. Swayne also hopes to secure his sister's inheritance from Paul. Swayne's false alibi had been provided by Ms Matlock, the Berownes' housekeeper. Fr Barnes of St Matthew's finds a button in the collection box, which had been put there by the young boy who found the bodies. The police recognise it as from a jacket owned by Dominic Swayne, providing crucial physical evidence linking Swayne to the scene of the crime. Swayne realises it is missing and returns to St Matthew's to retrieve it. He is confronted by Fr Barnes, and shoots him. Swayne arrives at the flat of Kate Miskin, Dalgliesh's colleague, and takes her hostage. In a struggle for the gun, Kate's grandmother is killed. Swayne is arrested. ==Title==