The body of a woman has been discovered in Castle Farthing Woods, and it appears that although she had been dead for years; nobody had ever reported her missing. DI Harry Falconer of the Market Darley police is perplexed - and not only in his working life. He has recently resumed his relationship with psychologist Dr. Honey Dubois - but while visiting a local village in the course of his investigations, unsettling memories of a former love are revived. As Falconer's sidekick DS Carmichael is coping with the early birth of his twins, the DI is forced to form a closer bond with his new constable, as they try to solve a nightmare conundrum.