A beautiful schoolgirl goes missing from a Cornish village on the day she tells her boyfriend and sister that she's pregnant. The possibility that she's been raped or murdered--or both--grows with every passing hour, and Wycliffe is brought in on the case. The investigation reveals a complex network of family intrigue centered on the girl; and then Wycliffe finds a body--but not the one he expects. Have there been two murders? As Wycliffe digs deeper, he soon realizes that just beneath the mundane surface of the community lies a web of hatred and resentment--a web he will have to untangle if he's to find the key to the mystery.

Genre: Mystery