Against his will, Detective chief Inspector Webb is assigned to a murder case in the town where he grew up Smouldering resentments and old hostilities impede his enquiries as he tries to sort out the truth from an intricate tissue of lies Only after he has faced up to a traumatic incident in his own boyhood does the solution become apparent and by the end of the case not only Webb but several prominent residents of Erlesborough have been forced to take a long, hard look at themselves