The death of a provincial elderly priest, Baddley, looks quite natural… but experienced detective Adam Dalgliesh, a longtime friend of the deceased, suspects that it was actually murder.
After all, not long before his death, Baddley had insisted on meeting Adam and hinted that he needed his professional help...
But why and for whom would anyone want to kill a modest old man?
Dalgliesh begins the investigation—and soon comes to a shocking conclusion: the murder of his friend is only one link in a chain of mysterious deaths, in which an elusive, merciless killer is involved…