Jeremy Martyne has enjoyed his holiday in Rhodes and heads back to his home in the UK, looking forward to the next time he can go back to his other, hidden, life, happily unaware that it will never be. His death when his house explodes is the first in a series of apparently motiveless murders of retired Metropolitan police officers, made to look like accidents or suicides. Ex-Met himself, DCI Tony Dyce's curiosity is aroused by what initially seems to be an accidental death, and when other 'accidents' occur, affecting Martyne's old colleagues, the hunt is on. The forensic science is deep, dirty and diligent, as ever, and Jane is right there with her husband in the hunt for a motive, which is buried way back in the past.