Harry Rusper, a trader in other people's discarded golden trinkets, has been discovered dead by his wife in their kitchen just outside Lincoln, with a claw hammer embedded in his skull. At the same time in the cathedral city, Harry's younger brother has had his home ransacked while he dined out in a local restaurant. Is the timing sheer coincidence or had Danny been at home would the same fate have come knocking on his door? Swedish born DI Inga Larsson realised right from the outset that this wasn't a run-of-the-mill domestic gone badly wrong. She knew for certain that this Harry Rusper was just as dead as any other murder victim, but with gold as a defining issue. Inga had to consider that this could very well be a case of both brothers being made to pay the price for Harry's brash dealing indiscretions. Her hunt for the killer and the truth will lead Inga down a road she could never have imagined. A road that will unleash a secret which, if revealed, would make headlines across the world.