Winner of the Dodd, Mead prize, this is the story of three decapitations, with six possible suspects, the gracious host Pendock and his guests,--Fran whom he loves, her sister Venetin, their grandmother, Lady Hart, Venetin's husband, and James, in love with and loved by Fran. Cockrill, friend of them all, is the inspector on the case, and is confronted by sheer impossibilities until the killer betrays himself. Smooth, but the solution is scarcely cricket. SEP serialization.