Peter Pascoe is in shock. A weekend in the country with old friends turns into a nightmare when he finds three of them dead and the missing fourth a prime suspect in the eyes of the local police.

They want his cooperation. Superintendent Andy Dalziel wants him back in Yorkshire where a string of unsolved burglaries looks like turning nasty.

Perhaps it's all too much for Pascoe. As events unfold, the two cases are getting jumbled in his mind...