Virtual Murder

Valuable paintings in art galleries are melting spontaneously, with no evident cause. Cornelius assists the police investigation, and a criminal and his motive are discovered.

Cornelius and Samantha pursue the killer of Jane Arkwright, a psychologist whose body was found near the notoriously severe Judge Rawcliffe's house — with the murderer leaving a string of taunting, cryptic clues. Rawcliffe, whose wife also died mysteriously, becomes the chief suspect. And the killer's clues seem intended to lead the pursuit on a wild goose chase.

Roger Smith, who claims to be Father Christmas's brother, takes a quantity of human bones to the police, then disappears. Smith is a patient of Cornelius, and the bones are found to be two teaching skeletons and a more recently-dead hand. Cornelius and Samantha are in the thick of the mystery.