The Corpse on the Bridge

When a body is found seated in an embrasure of Waterloo Bridge, clad only in coarse, homemade undergarments and long black stockings, Scotland Yard is baffled. The dead man has no identification, his fingerprints are unknown, and no one comes forward to claim him. A chief inspector known for his unorthodox methods takes charge, but the case yields only a few odd clues: splinters of deal wood, traces of margarine, and a smear of vaseline tinged with red.

A week later, a letter from a country rectory sends the inspector to a Benedictine monastery in Hampshire, where several laybrothers have vanished without explanation. The abbot fears foul play, but the monks are reluctant to involve the police. As the inspector begins to question the community, he recognizes something familiar about the dead man's strange clothing—and realizes the Waterloo Bridge corpse may be linked to the missing brothers in ways no one imagined.