Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, has brought his future bride to Howenstow, his family home. But the savage murder of a local journalist shatters the calm of the picturesque Cornwall village and embroils Lynley and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James in a case far outside their jurisdiction -- and a little too close to home. When a second death follows the first, Lynley can't help taking the investigation personally, because the evidence points to a killer within his own family.