"The poor devil's mouth was filled with feathers. An unconscious man with his mouth full of feathers wouldn't have had much chance of surviving, and this one didn't."
The press gleefully dubbed it the 'Banquet Murder'. The murdered man, Hugh Newton, had apparently been making a sumptuous feast for two in his flat, before his own goose was cooked.
Bobby Owen of the Yard is drawn to the cold case. Starting with the curious fact that the apartment building has experienced two break-ins since the murder, Bobby starts investigating the colourful, or faintly macabre, inhabitants. Elsewhere in London, Doreen Caine, cookery instructor, is excited that the case has been reopened. And further afield, a travel agency specializing in gastronomic tours comes under suspicion. It's a bouillabaise of a mystery, one of Punshon's finest, in which Bobby will discover whether retribution – if not revenge – is a dish best served cold.
