When the body of one of the students is found on the shore smothered by a fall of sand, his wealthy father demands that Scotland Yard should re-examine the verdict of accidental death. Dalgliesh has visited St. Anselm's in his boyhood and, as he is due for a holiday, agrees to pay a visit expecting no more than a nostalgic return to old haunts and a straightforward examination of the evidence given at the inquest. Instead he finds himself embroiled in one of the most horrific and puzzling cases of his career. Other visitors come to the college on the weekend of his arrival, not all of them with benign intent. One will never leave it alive.