The peaceful life of the Yorkshire village of Keldale is shattered by a brutal murder that has stirred the entire district. The murdered man’s daughter, the fat and unattractive Roberta Teys, was found sitting beside her father’s decapitated body, with an axe lying next to her. The girl confessed to the murder, but none of Roberta’s acquaintances believed she had done it. Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth Earl of Asherton, and his assistant Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers come from London to investigate the case and establish the truth.