Cordelia Gray is an aspiring private detective. Her first case is investigating the circumstances of the death of Mark Kellender, whose body was discovered in a country house. The police believe that the young man committed suicide in a state of depression - he unexpectedly dropped out of university, went out of town and got a job as a gardener. However, Cordelia is convinced that Mark was killed. The investigation leads her further into the labyrinth of intricate relationships of the Kellender family and carefully hidden secrets of the past, in which the motive for the murder should be sought... The death of the provincial priest Baddeley looks quite natural... but experienced detective Adam Dalgliesh suspects that it is murder. However, who and why needed to take the life of an elderly person? Dalgliesh soon comes to a shocking conclusion: the murder of his friend is just a link in a chain of mysterious deaths involving a ruthless killer. The first novel in the Cordelia Gray series and the fifth novel in the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series.