Flying home after a brief visit to Florence, Detective Sergeant Kate Power of Birmingham CID has a pleasant conversation with the businessman next to her. Two days later he's found hanging from a canal bridge – with Kate's business card in his pocket the only means of identification.

It looks like a clear-cut suicide – but Kate isn't so sure. And, as her subsequent investigations prove, the cause of death and its consequences are more serious than she could ever have imagined. Still battling against prejudice and intimidation at work and fighting to prove herself, Kate is determined to uncover the shocking truth.