Elena Weaver, a Cambridge student, is murdered during her morning run. During the investigation, it turns out the girl was pregnant. Who could hate the victim so much as to deal with her so brutally? The stepmother, jealous of her stepdaughter for her husband; the hapless young lover who doesn’t want to become a father; a teacher afraid of being exposed over an affair with a younger student—an “university” sort of guy who was casually offended by a snobbish girl? Inspector Lynley and his assistant Barbara Havers struggle for so long to agree on something that the delay becomes dangerous.