D.C.I. Vera Stanhope is reunited, under tragic circumstance, with her first ever Sergeant, Stuart Macken. When his house is petrol bombed, Stuart is left badly burned and when Vera's back is turned, he commits suicide by throwing himself from the hospital balcony. Vera, battling through grief for her former colleague and friend, is determined to track down the assailant and discover why someone would attempt to kill Stuart. Does the answer lie in the steep downturn Stuart's personal and professional life has taken since they last met? Vera and Joe pick their way through her former Sergeant's recent history and uncover his broken family and the destruction caused by his inability to let them go. Soon they are hot on the trail of a suspect, but a dramatic discovery turns the case on its head, revealing the event at the heart of these catastrophic and heartbreaking events.
