Christy Kennedy is an Ulsterman living in leafy Primrose Hill and working in vibrant Camden Town. He loves the art of detection, he's addicted to the puzzle of the crime. Now, while recuperating from an injury, he is working on a missing person case when an acquaintance of his, Harry Ford, is murdered.

The investigation uncovers the lives, loves and disappointments of four university friends, one of whom, a Fr Vincent O'Conner, may also be involved in the original Missing Person case. However, the suspect list goes beyond this group of friends and their spouses, when Kennedy discovers exactly how ambitious one of Ford's work colleagues was.

DC Coles has been transferred and a new member, the young, effervescent and enthusiastic Dot King fills the gap in the team as they try to solve perhaps the most complicated murder any of them have ever worked up.