The year is 1970, the month May. Jack Sangster, a special investigator with the Granville Institute, a philanthropic organisation dedicated to helping troubled youngsters, is in Cornwall helping to establish a residential academy for exceptionally gifted teenagers.
A former naval commander and oil executive, Sangster has been given this assignment due to his exceptional people and organisational skills, but his true talent lies in resolving difficult, sometimes apparently insoluble problems, especially when there are missing children involved. Sangster often works closely with both the Department of Education and the police on such cases.
His home town is Chester, but he can be sent on assignment anywhere in the country. As the story opens, Sangster has been living on and off for several months in a small hotel near Truro…