Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley comes to the green valleys of Keldale to solve the savage murder of a farmer.

When thirteen-year-old Matthew Whateley goes missing from Bredgar Chambers, a prestigious public school in the heart of West Sussex, aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley receives a call for help from the lad's housemaster, who also happens to be an old school chum. Thus, the inspector, his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James find themselves once again outside their jurisdiction and deeply involved...

When Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, Eighth Earl of Asherton, and his fiancee, Deborah Cotter, arrive at Howenstow, Lynley's family home, they find the atmosphere rife with tension.

Chance and bad weather led Deborah St. James and the vicar of Winslough to London's National Gallery to view Leonardo da Vinci's study for his Virgin and Child. The vicar's comment that Joseph is missing from the picture strikes a chord with Deborah, whose inability to bear a child has caused her deep grief and widened the growing rift between her and her husband.

In London, a woman parliamentarian's daughter is kidnaped and a newspaper editor with whom the parliamentarian had an affair receives a call, threatening the girl's life unless he admits paternity. Inspector Lynley suspects the girl is behind it.

Calder Moor is a wild and deadly place: many have been trapped in the myriad limestone caves, lost in collapsed copper mines, injured on perilous gritstone ridges. But this time, when two bodies are discovered in the shadow of the ancient circle of stones known as Nine Sisters Henge, it is clearly not a case for Mountain Rescue. The corpses are those of a young man and woman. Each met death in a different fashion. Each died violently. To Detective...

Lynley and Havers question Tessa, who paints a disturbing picture of life with William. To fill in the missing pieces, Lynley and Havers begin to search for Roberta's sister, Gillian. Strangely, opinions about her vary dramatically from one person to the next.

Lynley and Havers investigate the murder of a stunning young deaf Cambridge University student who was bludgeoned to death.

An avant-garde play is being read and during the reading, the playwright is murdered. However, the murder is not as easily solved as one might think.

When Lynley returns to his ancestral estate in Cornwall to celebrate his recent engagement to Helen, a brutal murder on the grounds sheds new light on the Inspector and his surprisingly dysfunctional family.