Third Time Fatal — Roger Ormerod

It has all the elements of a quiet and dignified country wedding. Philipa Lowe's friend, Heather, is at last taking the plunge, and Philipa is travelling there with her friend Oliver, who is reluctant to go. But not, apparently, as reluctant as the groom, Martin, who doesn't turn up at all. The obvious action is to go and find him and bring him to the altar. They drive to discover the case of the delay, and though Martin is reported to have returned to his own bed the previous night, he is not there now. But someone else is, a woman who is not merely naked by also dead. And still no sign of Martin. Yet Philipa returns to the church to find she has missed the wedding. The happy couple are married and have left on their honeymoon, but at Heathrow that plan is disrupted. Martin is arrested -- but the charge is not murder. Philipa subsequently becomes intimately involved in Martin's various iniquities, and equally involved with Martin himself. But is he as guilty as he seems? And what happened to the dead woman's clothes?