Secret Death

What is the mystery behind the death of Oscar Dover? Why was his sister so keen to prevent anyone knowing he had even died, let alone attend his funeral?
It’s unusually quiet at police headquarters when the village busybody reports a startling claim that Dover was murdered, prompting Detective Inspector Paul Amos and Detective Sergeant Juliet Swift to set off on what they fear will be a wild goose chase. But the deeper they get into the inquiry, the more intriguing it becomes.
Why does even the funeral director refuse to discuss the matter? After all, Dover was just a shambling wreck of the man he once was, estranged from his daughters and cutting an increasingly lonely figure at a not very successful junk shop full of stuff he couldn’t sell.
Fate keeps pointing Amos and Swift back to pursuing the inquiry – then erects barriers in their way. Amos is frustratingly sidelined to help with the Chief Constable’s latest pet project but Swift pursues the inquiry with renewed zeal despite putting herself in real danger.
A much darker side of Oscar Dover’s sordid life gradually emerges, uncovering a wide range of people who had motive and opportunity to kill him.
Swift eventually works out the truth about Dover’s death. When Amos returns to the fray, the two detectives are faced with the tricky task of proving what really happened.