Arnold Landon finds himself drawn into another bitter dispute over land-in which a defenseless old woman pays the ultimate price. To the casual observer, Penbrook Farm might seem like a ramshackle hovel, buried deep in the woods of Northumberland. But to fragile old Sarah Ellis, it's home. And the developers can have the place over her dead body. Of course, no one ever expected it to come to that... Least of all Arnold Landon, the peaceable planning officer assigned to Sarah's case. Late one night, he calls at the farmhouse to find the place in darkness. By the fire's dying embers, he can make out a body lying on the hard stone flags. Who wanted the farm so badly they were ready to kill for it? And what has become of Sarah's battered old prayerbook? In life she carried it with her constantly. Does it also hold the key to the mystery of her death?