Jilly and Rick Chandler are entering into their fourth adventure as man and wife detectives in the small English city of Worleston. Maggie Cantrel has left her husband's police station, since their marriage, and is starting a new job as a detective in Crewe. Her new partner, Nellie Bligh and she travel to the murder scene of a young girl found horribly stabbed in the local park. Jilly and Rick are sent out to Chatsworth Castle to investigate the murder of Carlton Dewhurst. His wife discovered his body early one morning, shot and stabbed. The case takes the two into the world of Dexter Malloy, a purveyor of drugs, sex, and human trafficking.