NO SIGN OF LIFE

After stepping aside for an alternative Delving hero (The China Expert, 1977), antiques dealer Dave Cannon returns, again on a buying trip to merrie, murderous England. At the moment, he's down in the Cotswolds, visiting his father-in-law and stopping in nearby Walcombe to try to collect the thousand dollars owed him by shady-dealer/tour-guide Cyril Lake. Chances for repayment of the debt look promising--Cyril is about to make a killing on the sale of some Celtic jewelry. But instead of making a killing, Cyril is killed, and Dave again out-sleuths the surly local constabulary. Among the suspects: Cyril's comely, heavy-breathing ex-flame, who almost leads happily-married Dave astray. But Dave retains his virtue, visits a charming husband-and-wife team of craftspersons in the hinterlands, and survives entrapment in a Celtic tumulus (i.e., burial mound). Pleasant, but no more than that, style-wise or puzzle-wise.