On a damp autumn day, two girls skipping school find a body in a remote cottage not far from Hungerford. The dead woman, Gillian Lestrange, was a ghostwriter, engaged in writing the memoirs of a widely disliked retired spy, Lavinia (Vinnie) Latham. Vinnie owns the cottage in which the murder took place, but is presently nowhere to be found. Was she the intended victim in a case of mistaken identity, hiding for her own safety? Or is she a murderer on the run?

The mystery thickens when Superintendent Gregory Summers discovers that Gillian was a ghost in more ways than one?she has been presumed dead for the past fifteen years. Somebody paid the price for Gillian's first death, and a heavy price it was. Could it be that retribution has at last come calling?

With a baffling case on his hands, the last thing Gregory needs is an officer from another force foisted on him, especially when he's camped out in the spare room and making eyes at his wife!