When artist Shirley Johnson is murdered and her body dumped outside a provincial police headquarters, Gently is despatched from London to take over the investigation. The prime suspect appears to be the woman s husband, a former bomber pilot with a guilty secret, but the other members of the woman s art group also have strong views about her controversial final painting Dark Destroyer. With too many motives, too many suspects and too little time, George Gently must work quickly before the murderer manages to slip through his fingers.