If a tiger mauled a man to death, would he bother burying the corpse? The tiger that had escaped from a local zoo and had terrorized the little market town of Abbotsham had been shot dead by a police marksman without, it would seem, having cause anything more than a mild panic. It wasn't until a year later that an apparent victim of the rogue tiger was discovered - but the man was neatly buried in his own back garden. With foul play afoot, George Gently is called in to investigate.