In the winter of 1959, privateeye John Nyquist arrives in the village of Hoxley-on-the-Hale with only apackage of cryptic photographs, and the frail hope of finding an answer to aquestion he's been asking since his childhood.But the villagers offer littlehelp, as each day brings a twisted new rule in the name of a different Saintthat they, and Nyquist, must follow. And there are whispers of the return ofthe Tolly Man, an avatar of chaos in a terrible mask...As Nyquist struggles todistinguish friend from foe, and the Tolly Man draws nearer, he must race to finallysettle the one mystery he has never been able to solve: the disappearance ofhis father.