Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are at odds following Robin’s wedding to Matthew, but there’s no time to mull over the new distance within their professional relationship, as a frightening visit from a potential client puts a new case on the table - and Robin and Strike set to work looking into reports of a strangled child.

A startling discovery seems to confirm the story of the strangled child, but the team are forced to leave the scene before they can properly investigate. Fearing their witness is in danger, they redouble their efforts to find him.

Strike is approached by a woman asking for help to find her mother, Margot Bamborough, who went missing in 1974 when a psychopathic serial killer stalked the streets.