A police man-hunt fails to find the husband of a brutally murdered woman - until he turns up in Gently's office.

The hunted man is, in fact, a far-distant relative of Gently and throws himself on the Chief Inspector's mercy. Gently will have none of it and is ready to hand the man over to his colleagues in charge of the investigation, but there are some intriguing elements to the case.

The fact that the prime suspect had fled to be with his mistress and then taken to the open sea in a chartered yacht seems hugely incriminating. But the affluent and exotic lifestyle of the victim, whose apartment was designed for erotic pleasure with her lesbian lover, supports the accused man's protestations of innocence.