An American woman tracing her family appears in a graveyard. The only person she meets is the gravedigger. Next time she's seen she is found dead by a bunch of squaddies. Dalziel comes to investigate and bumps into another old flame, Jenny Ettrick. Later, one of the squaddies kills himself after being harassed by his sergeant As Dalziel starts investigating, they find that the victim may have drunk in the squaddies bar. Another squaddie turns up dead and while investigating that murder they find out that there might be a case of mistaken identity
Dalziel is investigating the disapperance of a teenage girl who was addicted to the Internet. He gets rough with the only suspect they have and gets booted off the case. Then a girl gets murdered at a holiday resort. Not any girl - a popular girl who won a TV reality contest. Then one of the holiday makers turns up dead as well. There are plenty of suspects but no real motive. Dalziel comes back onto the case. Another colleague is investigating a diamond heist. After Pascoe discovers a suspect from that case, by falling into a swimming pool, it looks like the cases could be linked
Dalziel's car breaks down on the moors and unsurprisingly Pascoe won't come fetch him in the middle of the night Dalziel walks to a nearby pub and stays the night. The next morning he discovers a body while taking a walk and suddenly a bigger case unfolds. The landlord's son was convicted of murdering his wife but her body was never found. He has escaped while in transit and is expected to arrive at the pub to see his son. Suddenly the wife's body turns up, and it's clear it has been stored somewhere for a number of years. Dalziel does some digging and discovers the real murderer is much closer to home.
What is the connection between an unidentifiable corpse found drowned in the canal with a two year old AK47 bullet lodged in its spine and the murder of a wealthy and successful businessman who has just returned from Russia with a new order and bride to be? This is the mystery that Dalziel and Pascoe must solve if they are to discover the murderer before Dalziel is moved sideways onto a desk job to make way for "new blood". The strange thing about the case is that nobody seems particularly upset about the death of the businessman. As they probe deeper into the case all sorts of jealousies, money problems and family conflicts are exposed. Also, the factory staff are trying desperately to conceal various wrongdoings from the police. Eventually, the murder weapon is discovered and a suspect confesses to the crime but are they the real murderer?