Two men lie in a welter of blood in the vestry of St Matthews Church, Paddington, their throats brutally slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently-resigned Minister of the Crown, the other an alcoholic vagrant. Dalgliesh and his team, set up to investigate crimes of particular sensitivity, are faced with a case of extraordinary complexity as they discover the Berowne familys veneer of prosperous gentility conceals ugly and dangerous secrets.