Having recovered from his wounds Andy Dalziel returns to the fold just as Peter Pascoe is in the midst of an undercover operation trying to capture a serial killer. Peter corners the man who then jumps to his death but the only witness turns out to be Abbie Hallingsworth who was kidnapped 19 years before and presumed dead. More difficult however is that her kidnapper, Gus Mulla...
Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel goes to The British Grenadier to console the pub's owner Stella, who has just had a serious fight with her husband. Suspecting her of infidelity, Stella's husband returns with a gun, and takes his wife, Andy, and a number of patrons hostage.
When the body of a school principal, thought to be buried in Austria, is found under her own memorial in the school grounds, police detectives Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe are called in to piece together the circumstances surrounding her untimely death.
Dalziel almost witnesses a shooting which two witnesses claim was a beautiful woman trying to commit ******* by shooting herself in the face. He is convinced it is murder. Ironically, Dalziel and his suspect (Philip Swain) are cast in a cathedral mystery play as God and the devil, respectively. A young missing husband, a series of letters to Dalziel by an intended *******, hero...