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 Inspector Thomas Lynley, brought in to
investigate by special request, this grisly crime promises
to be one of the toughest assignments of his career. For
the unfortunate Nicola Maiden was the daughter of a former
officer in an elite undercover unit, a man Lynley once
regarded as a mentor. Now, as Lynley struggles to find out
if Nicola's killer was an enemy of her father's or one she
earned herself, a disgraced Barbara Havers, determined to
redeem herself in the eyes of her longtime partner,
crisscrosses London seeking information on the second
murder victim.
Yet the more dark secrets Lynley and Havers uncover, the
more they learn that neither the victims nor the suspects
are who they appear to be. And once again they come up
against the icy realization that human relationships are
often murderous...and that the blood that binds can also
kill.