A group of men and women gather at Sir Randolph Nettleby's estate for a shooting party.

Opulent, adulterous, moving assuredly through the rituals of eating and slaughter, they are a dazzlingly obtuse and brilliantly decorative finale of an era.

'Threads of romance, social comment, country lore and intrigue both above and below stairs are cunningly worked together to create a brilliant tapestry . . . I have seldom enjoyed a book so much', *Sunday Telegraph*