In the spring of 1826, ex-soldier Gregory Hardiman is settling into civilian life as an ostler and university constable in Cambridge. When an undergraduate is found hanged in his rooms at St Clement’s College, the Master asks Gregory to find out what could have driven the seemingly happy young man to take such a drastic step. A second death at the same college suggests something altogether more sinister, and Gregory sets out to discover whether a love of illegal gambling on horse races could lie at the heart of the tragedies.

In the second of the 'Cambridge Hardiman Mysteries', Gregory finds himself on shifting sands – torn between family ties in Spain and the possibility of new affections in Cambridge.