A killer is stalking the town of Hawkshead in England. Victims are killed without reason or a particular pattern, and so it falls to inspector Chris Burns and his crew of detectives to catch him.
The murders are brutal, but the strangest thing is the killers calling card, a small beetle which police require the help of a ranger to identify.
Panic spikes through the little community at each death, yet the terror isn't felt until the killer comes for one of the most upstanding detectives on the police force.