Mathias, struggling with his own demons from the past, becomes more emotionally connected to the case than is wise, a fact not missed by Mared and Chief Super Prosser. With professional and personal loyalties pushed to the limit, Mathias finds himself on an emotional knife-edge.

The body of a young student, Alys Thomas, is found in the centre of a vast expanse of marshlands by two young boys. She is dressed immaculately in a scarlet dress and seems to have been deliberately placed there.

Tommy James, whose business is tractors, lorries and trucks, is a very prominent member of the close-knit community as are his friends; local publican Dic Rees and garage owner Gwilym Morgan. Naturally wary of strangers, the trio offer Mathias no obvious leads, but when the body is revealed to be ex teacher and traveller Michael Reynolds, whom everyone in the village seems to have had an affection for, tongues start to loosen.

High in the hills above Aberystwyth, the body of an unidentified young man is found at the bottom of a lake in a disused quarry near the village of Penwyllt.

Could his death be linked to a series of murky land deals made by his father, who disinherited a neighbour, Eric Roberts, years previously? What secrets do the mountains hold about the deaths of three German prisoners of war on Welsh soil in 1944? And what involvement does 'The Guild' - a local organisation of professional men - have in this historical jigsaw?

At a remote farmhouse the body of keen photographer Idris Williams is found. At first it seems that this is a case of a burglary that went horribly wrong, but Mathias' instincts tell him otherwise - this was murder.

The investigation leads him to the remote village of Devil's Bridge, where Helen Jenkins' body is found at the bottom of a deep ravine, not far from the site of an old children's home that she ran for many years. The home was closed 15 years ago, and the building is now a hotel, but the untouched attic reveals a snapshot of a tortured past. Only by unlocking the secrets of the children's home can Mathias crack the case and reveal the murderer.

Having just left the Met police in London, for a new life in Aberystwyth, DCI Tom Mathias has hardly had time to unpack before he's called to the scene of a brutal attack at an isolated chalet in the sand dunes. The victim is believed to be a 64 year old God-fearing woman, Helen Jenkins, but she is nowhere to be found.