The Crime and the Crystal

In this, his third adventure, Professor Andrew Basnett takes a brief break from his usual stomping grounds in the Little English Village, opting to spend Christmas in a Small Australian City instead. Hes visiting Tony, an old colleague with a newish wife, and hes barely had a post-flight snack before hes made aware of a cloud hanging over the marriage. Jan, Tonys bride, is widely believed to have bashed her first husband over the head, and though she was acquitted of the murder, Tony himself is starting to have uncomfortable second thoughts. Things dont get any more comfortable when, at a family dinner, one of the guests is done in, killed with a chunk of the same crystal that put paid to Jans first husband. And Jan herself? Shes disappeared. Only the Professor, it would seem, can banish the clouds of distrust and reveal the truth, clear as crystal.