Simon Serrailler - the Detective Chief Inspector to whom readers were introduced in The Various Haunts of Men - is on vacation in Venice, trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of a young woman who had been in love with him, when a telephone call summons him home.A little boy has been snatched from the front gate of his home, where he was waiting for his lift to school. At the same time, a severely handicapped young woman is hovering between life and death. And an ex-con is trying to go straight, but he's finding it impossible. The Pure in Heart is a crime novel arising out of character and circumstances, about the psychology of crime, something more enthralling than plain thrillers or whodunits.In Lafferton, Serrailler's town, Susan Hill has brilliantly created a community with detail so sharp and true to life readers feel that these people are their own neighbors and friends. But there is terror and evil in their very midst. Read Less