When a 19-year-old girl is found dead in a tangle of alleyways known as The Maze, DCI Alan Banks is called in to investigate. With no shortage of suspects, Banks soon finds himself missing DI Annie Cabbot. Their personal problems aside, he could really use her sharp instincts on the case.

But Annie has troubles of her own. She's looking into another murder, and, on the face of it, the two deaths have nothing in common. But as Annie digs deeper, she finds something disturbingly familiar in the case.

Perhaps she and Banks will find themselves working together again a lot sooner than expected...