An old woman is beaten to death. A young woman disappears. Taken on to investigate, private detective Frank Sterling is plunged into a desperate and unconventional flight across eastern England and a race against time. Who are his pursuers, and what secret from the distant past are they trying to suppress?

From the gentle landscape of Suffolk to the banks of the Thames and back to his native Kent, Sterling is repeatedly faced not only with challenges, but real danger. And with help to solve his second major case from some unexpected sources, he has to confront his own lazy attitudes in an unfamiliar and confusing social world.