Aristocrat Riderstone Hunster returns to England after vanishing for
five years in Thailand. Having become a Buddhist monk, he has kicked his drug 
habit and honed phenomenal psychic powers possessed  since
childhood. He comes across a tormented young ghost terrorising an old 
house on the south coast and soon realises this spirit child is
seeking  revenge  for a terrible crime. Riderstone tries to help
but knows any possible witnesses  to the crime are probably dead. The
only information he has are sketchy clues  from beyond
the grave. Aided  by ex-private detective Dermot O'Branagh,  Riderstone begins a
baffling psychic investigation where the vague clues of a  six-year-old spirit are all they have to go on. But an old lady who once lived  at the house
appears to know more than she admits. Her evasiveness, and
the  spirit's persistent visitations, keep them guessing about the
deceased's real  identity until a final confrontation on a dark
sea-sprayed pier.


READ AN EXCERPT

The shape was like a faint image from a worn out old celluloid movie which
was blurred, ever-changing, and fragmented. Still he could see the face of a
child at the top of the white shape and occasionally the feet, hands and torso
were also revealed. It was difficult to see precisely what the spectre was
wearing but there seemed to be some sort of ankle-length dress.


Riderstone stared up, made a few whispered chants in Thai and then watched as
the spirit suddenly shot into the air, skimming the monk’s head, flitting over
the detective’s shoulder before disappearing through a gap in the doorway.


Sheila was very still, seemingly knocked unconscious. Riderstone murmured a
little then fell into a meditative pose, barely breathing and sitting on the
floor motionless.


O’Branagh found himself looking up at the ceiling. At first he believed he
was in his own bed in his London home and it had all been a bad dream. Then he
reasoned that he must still be on the camp bed in the kitchen. Finally he
realised that he was lying on the floor in the bedroom, close to where
Riderstone sat meditating and Sheila remained curled up in a ball.


He could not deny the empirical evidence that lay before him. Indeed, he
could not deny that, despite being a rational-minded human being - with many
scientific qualifications to his name - he had just seen a ghost.