A man is murdered in the gardens of a Bristol hotel. Working for a local escort agency, he had been requested by one of their regular female customers - but never made it to meet her. Rose Piper, the investigating DCI, has only the mysterious woman, now nowhere to be found, and the dead man's lover as suspects. And then there is another murder - of another Avon Escorts boy. Deep in the heart of the West Country, Constance an Freddie Lange live a comfortable existence on the land the Lange's have farmed for centuries. But when Constance falls out badly with her beloved son, a student, the happy family unit is fractured, leading eventually to tragedy. Although the two worlds are poles apart, Rose Piper and Constance Lange's paths are destined to cross . . . .