In this collecton, Rendell deals with a variety of themes, some macabre, some vengeful, some mysterious, and all precisely observed.
"Adam and Eve and Pinch Me went down to the river to bathe, Adam and Eve were drowned. Who was saved?" This rhyme is a favourite of Jerry Leach, who has sponged off five women. With the cruel irony he would be the first to recognize from that rhyme, he becomes the victim of one of his female prey.