The neat row of small, late-Victorian terraced houses was punctuated by a gaping space: homes reduced to rubble in the night raid. Amongst the debris the body of a young, red-headed woman is found. But she has no connection to the houses or the street, nor can her identity be established. Nor was it the bomb that killed her. When the post-mortem reveals death by strangling, D.I. Jago is called on to investigate. He quickly establishes that the body is that of Mary Watkins, a seemingly respectable employee of a local engineering company. But the company is missing important chemicals, and few seem to really care about the death of Mary – not even her family. Was the young woman all she appeared to be? As Jago digs deeper he starts to uncover a trail of deception, betrayal, and romantic entanglements...