Dalgliesh travels to a remote seminary overlooking a windswept lake, where a body has been found gruesomely murdered. Nearly everyone in the seminary has reason to resent the victim, and Dalgliesh and DS Tarrant must unpick a complicated set of motives to find their killer.

A second death shakes the order. As Dalgliesh uncovers the secret agenda of one of his suspects, the seminary falls further into disrepute. But this may be the key to unlocking the killer's motive.

Dalgliesh investigates a murder in the Essex home of the Mehtas, a staggeringly wealthy family with connections to the British government. With the help of local detective Clive Roscoe, Dalgliesh builds a picture of events in the weeks leading to the crime, confronting a blanket of secrecy among his guarded suspects.

A pair of grueling interrogations brings the victim's life into sharper focus, but will it lead the police to the killer? After a shocking confession is made, Dalgliesh realizes he has been lied to.

Dalgliesh is sent on an urgent mission to investigate a terrorist plot against a nuclear power station on the Kent coast. He is soon drawn into a complex and highly charged hunt for a serial killer, working once more alongside former colleague Kate Miskin, now an acting DCI.

The hunt is on for a second killer as the threat to the local community looms larger than ever. Can Dalgliesh unpick a complex web of loyalties before it's too late?