When Melanie Hunter goes missing it is completely out of character for the polite, friendly palaeontologist, and the men in her life come under suspicion. And there’s plenty to suspect: lies, half-truths, deceptions.… Seems that when you pull one thread, the whole fabric of family life can come apart. It soon becomes clear that there are secrets in Melanie’s past, and pain she tried to hide from the world.

Bill Slider and his team investigate, and if they are to succeed then they will need to find the answer to two questions: Who loved Melanie? And who loved her too much?