a purely engaging and thrilling story from the fifth doctor adventures. its another murder mystery and if we're going by the timeline of serpent in the silver mask -> black orchid -> the merfolk murders then its 3 murder mysteries in a row. but tim foleys writing here makes me deeply care about the entire cast of characters. adric gets a lovely little romance with a guy called henry, nyssa bonds with a soldier over losing their families, the doctor gets to revel in playing detective after some comedic teasing by tegan being very enthusiastic to solve the mystery. its all really well crafted