Scattered Remains is the third in The Nathan Hawk Mysteries, written by Douglas Watkinson one of the major contributors to the tv series Midsomer Murders.

A brilliant young inventor, Patrick Scott, is abducted from his canal boat home in London. His kidnappers say they intend to auction him off to the highest bidder. But what has he invented that is potentially so valuable? And eventually will lead to his death?

A surgical plate is found in a local field and the farmer asks Hawk to find the body it must once have been attached to. Assisted by his rising film star son, Hawk discovers that the plate was custom made for a certain Patrick Scott who broke a metatarsal skiing. A day later, however, all trace of Patrick is wiped from every government database. It’s as if he never existed.

But as Hawk’s son says: “All we have to do now is find his body and his murderer!”