Chief Inspector Jacobson is back from holiday and starting to wish he'd stayed away permanently. Firstly, a notorious rapist, known as the 'Crowby Crawler', is - legally - back on the streets, complete with a media circus and a mob of baying vigilantes in his wake. And secondly, Jacobson's boss is retiring and rumour has it that his replacement is on a personal, mission to remodel Crowby CID as a Jacobson-free zone. It's almost a relief - professionally, at least - when Mrs Jennifer Mortimer is found murdered in what Jacobson tells his sergeant is an open and shut case. Bored, adulterous Jenny Mortimer lies dead on the driveway and her jealous, domineering husband Gus is without an alibi. Even when DS Kerr casts doubt on the simplicity of the case, Jacobson isn't overly concerned. If Gus hasn't done it, Jacobson has his eye on another suspect just as close to home and just as much in the frame: Jenny's dead-beat ex-boyfriend. But as Jacobson's stress levels soar, things that he could really do without start to happen. Things like the Crawler evading police surveillance...and Gus Mortimer himself turning up as dead as his wife.