"When Detective Inspector Bill Reid is found murdered in the tranquil grounds of the St Peter's Police Treatment Centre, and compromising photographs are discovered in his room, DCI Banks is called in to investigate. Because of the possibility of police corruption, he is assigned an officer from Professional Standards, Inspector Joanna Passero, to work closely with him, and he soon finds himself and his methods under scrutiny. It emerges that Reid's...

Returning to the Yorkshire dales of his youth after his beloved wife dies, composer Chris Lowndes, after discovering that the old house he has just purchased was the scene of a murder more than 50 years before, becomes obsessed with solving the case despite warnings to leave it alone.