The tenth of Lestrade’s 16 cases (Lestrade and the Gift of the Prince, 1999, etc.) begins with a belated murder, as Captain Paul Dacres, the fiancé of Lestrade’s daughter Emma reported missing in action three years ago, summons Emma to a meeting, only to turn up very recently dead. Other murders follow more smartly, however, forcing Lestrade into every role from an applicant for public hangman to an extra on a lubricious historical film before Emma caps the madness by going as missing as her fiancé.
