When Police Constable Basil Cowdrey is nearly mown down by a Rolls-Royce in Flaxborough market, it signals the arrival of crusading journalist Clive Grail of the Sunday Herald, bent on uncovering scandal. Published intimations of revelations to come cause the Mayor, Alderman Charles Hockley, to issue a challenge, but this war of threats is not the worst of it and soon Inspector Purbright finds himself striving to solve (and explain to his Chief Constable) a much graver and more sinister crime. Those who play with blue films and blackmail often find themselves involved in more than they bargained for...… (more)