While searching through Claire's Nottingham bungalow, he finds nothing suspicious except evidence that Claire was not quite as uninterested in sex and possible new relationships as her younger sister believes. Soon after, Claire turns up in her home dead, carefully dressed and laid out. This reminds Frank of the death of Irene Fowler, a woman who met a similar fate two years earlier, and whose killer was never caught. Elder probes several leads down blind alleys with the aid of Detective Inspector Maureen Prior, with whom he had worked before his retirement, until they are able to reach into the past to resolve the cases.

This is a superb psychological suspense story. There are two separate parts: the past psychological study of a young boy, and the present search for the psychotic killer. There is an in-depth study of the killer and the influences of his past. The reader feels Elder's emotions for his estranged wife and his ambivalent feelings toward his daughter.

This is a real page turner filled with suspense from beginning to end.