Andy Dalziel knows how to cope with crime. Give him a nice straightforward murder, some bloke with a gun and a grievance, and he's a happy man.

But this new one, that the press is calling the 'Yorkshire Choker' well, Andy could suggest some different names, none of them fit for a family paper. It's not just that he keeps phoning the cops to boast about the girls he's strangled. No, this one apparently thinks he's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. And furthermore, the sergeant has called in a 'clairvoyant,' as though Andy needs some nutjob with a crystal ball to help him crack the case.