"When Eddie Barnes is electrocuted on the stage of The Cellar Club, in front of three hundred adoring fans, the Liverpool Police immediately call in Scotland Yard, which -- in effect -- means calling in the Yard's resident expert on 'Up North', Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend. But for once, Woodend feels out of his depth. For a start, he doesn't understand what makes young musicians tick. He can't see why Eddie's mother says that Eddie had a girlfriend, while his best mate, Steve Walker, insists that he didn't. And who has been playing nasty tricks on Eddie's group, the Seagulls, culminating in Eddie finding a dead rat -- with a noose round its neck -- in his guitar case? Was Eddie murdered because he was Eddie, or because he was one of the Seagulls? As Woodend battles with the complexities of the case -- and with the less-than-affable local police -- he is more than aware that if he does not find the murderer soon, there could well be another death." --