It is a bitter winter in Yorkshire when Bradfield's Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray is called to investigate the death of young estate agent Linda Wright, found drowned in her own car in a nearby reservoir. Reporter Laura Ackroyd, whose relationship with Thackeray is too close to be called friendship and too precarious to be called an affair, has recently transferred from Bradfield to the nearby town of Arnedale to work on the local newspaper for just a few months, and she's received a less than warm welcome from the locals. She soon uncovers a link between a story she's working on about corruption in local land deals and the death of Linda Wright. Then another woman is killed, this time someone directly involved in protesting the land development. Thackeray and Ackroyd, crossing paths personally and in their respective professions, are determined to pursue the solution to this absorbing case through to its deadly finish.