Moving back to Yorkshire was the last thing DI Tom Richmonds thought he would do. His superiors are also perturbed by his decision to transfer. Surely after the murder of the young girl, Yorkshire is the last place he should want to be? Is this Richmond's attempt to make peace with the past, or does he have ideas about reopening a bungled investigation?

Whatever Richmond's intentions, events soon overtake him. When a local biographer is found murdered, the investigation leads Richmond straight to the Denshaw family. It's been ten years since eight-year-old Beth was killed, snatched from the garden of the Denshaw family home. Her corpse was found four months after her disappearance in the local park. Even though her mother confessed to the killing, there are still those - Richmond among them - who believe that Beth's stepfather, vicar Peter Denshaw, was actually responsible for her death.

As Richmond's investigation of the biographer's death has him rummaging once again through the Denshaw family's dirty laundry, he cannot help but begin to see clues to the older murder as well.