A couple are shocked to discover the naked body of a woman in their garden. She has been strangled. Acting Inspector Beauregard, who has never led a murder investigation, doesn't understand how or why the body of a woman ended up in the garden and seeks assistance from ex-detective inspector Clive Walsingham.
When the battered body of a woman is found in some local woods, Inspector Dick Beauregard is surprised to discover that she had just checked out of the hotel run by ex-Detective Inspector Clive Walsingham. He originally treats Clive as a suspect, but the investigation makes little headway until a second body, a man, is found. Mysteriously, a newspaper cutting dated two days after he was murdered is found in his pocket. Both victims were parents of one of five schoolgirls who disappeared in mysterious circumstances ten years ago. Under mounting pressure, Inspector Beauregard asks Clive Walsingham to help. In a complicated and occasionally shocking investigation, Clive and his wife, Clare, re-examine the circumstances surrounding the original disappearance of the schoolgirls. But, when an intriguing discovery is made, they realise they are at risk from an unlikely source. With their lives at stake, they must act quickly.