An honourable murderer, if you will… The police force of Abbots Hill, Helenborough, have two seemingly separate, and frustratingly unsolvable, cases on their hands. DCI Roy Kennet has left no stone unturned in the investigation of a series of unusual break-ins in which military memorabilia has not only been stolen, but then delivered in a pseudo-ceremonious fashion to the office doorsteps of widely read newspapers. Kennet is sure there must be something of significance behind the thieves’ targets and the delivery of their loot to the media — some clue that will lead directly to the men responsible. He just doesn’t know what it is. DCI Liz Ireton, on the other hand, has been plagued by a string of attacks on young women in the grounds of Helenhall University. The similarity of physical characteristics suggests that the perpetrator has targeted these women with someone particular in mind, while the nature of the attacks themselves and the humiliation suffered by the girls suggests that the suspect is someone with years of rage. For Liz, whose own recent assault is still very much on the surface, the case — and her inability to make any headway on it — taxes her to her personal limit. As investigations proceed, the police begin to focus their attention on the inhabitants of the village of Roxleigh, St Matthias’s Church, and Eastland House, where two ex-army men run an outdoor activities centre. As Kennet and Ireton gather evidence and bring their separate progress to their boss, Detective Superintendent Mike Hallows, Hallows begins to wonder if there isn’t more of a connection between the two cases than anyone ever imagined. As a succession of deaths take place within the sound of St Matthias’s bells, the pursuit of the guilty leads the police to a nail-biting climax in water-flooded caves deep beneath the earth…