When local antique jeweler Nigel Fontenoy's body is found at his cousin's building site, DCI Gil Mayo and DI Abigail Moon think they have a simple case on their hands. Both detectives suspect that this murder was a family matter and that they needn't search far down the family tree. After all, Fontenoy's cousin, Jake Wilding, was heavily in debt to the dead man and his inability to offer even a vaguely plausible account of his whereabouts on the night of the murder casts Wilding in a dubious shadow. And things look even more bleak for Wilding when traces of Fontenoy's blood are found on one of his trucks. But the puzzle becomes intricate when Wilding finally names his alibi - an ex-wife - and claims that Fontenoy had been pressuring him to secure something of great value to the jeweler from the woman. Is it a piece of jewelry, a document, or something even more precious? Abigail Moon soon finds that in this case of tangled family ties, as soon as one thing is gained, another is lost.