The famous architect Henrik Dahlman, a respectable citizen and father of a large family, is found dead in his home in the resort settlement of Lygarn on the Swedish island of Gotland. Naked, he was bound to his bed and strangled. At first, it was assumed that an elaborate sexual game had taken place and, through negligence, led to death. But investigator Anders Knutas and his assistant Karin Jacobsson immediately doubted it. They were finally convinced that it was a murder after a similar crime occurred on the mainland a short time later. The story becomes more and more tangled, because nothing seems to connect the victims—except for an unknown scorching beauty whose soul is filled with utter darkness. A reporter, Yuhan Berg, who investigates high-profile murders of his own, is also caught in a deadly trap.