A private inquiry

"The telephone rings. Barbara Pomeroy answers, and the threat comes quick. In the matter of a moment both her professional integrity as an arbitration judge and the well-being of her young son, Toby, have been anonymously imperiled.". "A threat of another sort awaits Barbara at her home in the Cornish coastal town of St. Ives. There, her retired husband, Colin, and Toby have befriended a holiday lodger who goes by the fanciful name of Clarissa Trelawny. During Barbara's frequent absences Clarissa, acting as a kind of surrogate mother, has been showering Toby with lavish affection and…