Under the Shadow of Meon Hill

On February 14th, 1945, Charles Walton, aged 74, a hedger and ditcher of Lower Quinton, Warwickshire was found dead on Meon Hill in Warwickshire. He had been subject to the most brutal attack. A pitchfork had been thrust through his neck, pinning him to the soil and what looked like the sign of a cross slashed across his chest. The police classed it as a major murder enquiry and called up the most famous detective of the day, Inspector Robert Fabian of Scotland Yard, to investigate. Employing the most modern techniques, Fabian combed the crime scene and surrounding area, using surveillance aircraft and metal detectors in a search of clues. He interviewed locals, POWs from the camp at nearby Long Marston and individual soldiers, but found no convincing leads, until someone suggested that the killing of Walton had a ritual or 'sacrificial' aspect, and from then on the enquiry became more and more bizarre, involving witches, black magicians, folklorists and social historians...