Read by James Macpherson. & in Edinburgh, of all places. I mean, you never think of that sort of thing happening in Edinburgh, do you...? That sort of thing is the brutal abduction & murder of two young girls. & now a third is missing, presumably gone to the same sad end. Detective Sergeant John Rebus, smoking & drinking too much, his own young daughter spirited away south by his disenchanted wife, is one of many policemen hunting the killer. & then the messages begin to arrive: knotted string & matchstick crosses
- taunting Rebus with pieces of a puzzle only he can solve.