The new Detective Chief Inspector Hayes mystery. Detective Superintendent Roger Hayes is frustrated by his reassignment to head the Met's new intelligence unit, designed to tackle high profile cases with special regard to national security. However, assigned to investigate the murder of Lady Susan Brigham, wife of euro politician Sir William Brigham, his concerns regarding the nebulous nature of his job disintegrate.Hayes and his new partner Sergeant Prentice arrive at the crime scene in the rural village of Flodde to find Lady Brigham lying naked at the foot of the staircase of her country manor, brutally cudgelled to death. The mystery surrounding the murder deepens as it becomes apparent that there are no obvious signs of a forced entry and Hayes unravels startling secrets regarding the Brigham family. Faced by adversity in the form of shifty, uncooperative locals and an interfering local police force, Detective Haines struggles to solve this case once and for all...