Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is the last detective, a genuine gumshoe, given to doorstopping and deduction. So when the naked body of a woman is found floating in the weeds in a lake near Bath with no one willing to identify her, no marks and no murder weapon, his sleuthing abilities are tested to the limit. Struggling with a jigsaw of truant choirboys, teddy bears, a black Mercedes and Jane Austen memorabilia, Diamond persists even when there is enough evidence to make a conviction. It's just as well: for despite disastrous personal consequences, and by following the real clues hidden amongst Bath's historic buildings and intertwined with its literary past, the last detective exposes the uncomfortable truth...