It is the day Sergeant Caleb Martin of Kingsmarkham CID will lose his life in a bank robbery, and the first link in the chain of events that will lead to more deaths. When three people are discovered shot at Tancred House, Chief Inspector Wexford believes there is a connection between the two crimes, but only the daughter of one of the victims survives to provide a clue, a clue that is so confusing that Wexford needs all his deductive powers.