Commander Adam Dalgliesh is drawn into the inner chambers of the British legal system to investigate the grisly murder of Venetia Aldridge, an ambitious - and widely despised - criminal lawyer. As the list of suspects quickly grows to include several key members of Aldridge's firm, each with an excellent motive for murder, suspicion also falls on Gary Ashe, a murder suspect Venetia recently defended - successfully - and who has since taken up with her daughter Octavia. As Dalgliesh probes Venetia's past, a terrible secret about her father emerges and appears to be linked to her death - as well as to a distinguished member of Chambers.