Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother Margot Bamborough - who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. Despite the slim chance of success he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency Robin Ellacott are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention as well as battling her own feelings about Strike. As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted.

Part of the Cormoran Strike Series series.