The same week our fowls were stolen, Daphne Moran had her throat cut.

Fourteen-year-old Neddy Poindexter and his mate Les take swift revenge on the chook-rustling Lynch Gang, but things turn sinister when vulture-like Hubert Salter stalks into Klynham. There’s a sex killer on the loose, and Neddy is in deep fear for the safety of his sister.

In this lost masterpiece, first published in 1963, forgotten New Zealand writer Morrieson combines Boys’ Own adventure, psychological thriller, small-town saga and family farce to produce a brilliant, hallucinatory mixture distinctively his own.