Still reeling from the tragic death of their much-loved colleague, Skinner's men are about to discover that a disturbed serial killer is still at large and very close to home.

It's the second week of July Trades Holiday in Edinburgh and things seem very quiet. Until, that is, Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner and his men get a call informing them that the body of a young woman has been found on a golf course. It's been there for ten days so she's not a pretty sight. But the way she has been laid out is uncannily familiar. The body has been 'composed', just like the bodies of three other young women in a previous case. Could it be the work of a copycat killer? The murder victim is an art teacher who was having a relationship with the son of a Tory MP. Her ex-boyfriend is a policeman with a reputation as a serious womaniser. It seems the murder trail is getting much too close for comfort...