The author's London-based lawyer-sleuth Rosa Epton (The Hidden Man, etc.) is more bystander than detective this time out. After renewing acquaintance with her long-unheard-from godmother Margaret Lakington, Rosa gets to know Margaret's neighbors at Deepwood Grange--a set of luxury apartments in a refurbished mansion in Sussex. Later, the murder of one of them--inscrutable loner David Anderson--followed by the killing of estate-agent Tom Moxon involves Rosa only peripherally--until her godmother disappears and one of her scruffy London clients drops some information that sends her scurrying back to Sussex. Diamond smuggling in high places is the name of the game here, but Underwood seems bored by the details. All in all, some mildly entertaining characters and the ever-pleasant Rosa can't save this half-hearted effort.