Before reading this novel, a primer on the Yugoslavian War (1991-2001) may be necessary. The author heavily relies on the events of this turbulent time as a backdrop for murder. A building inspector finds a skeleton in the turret of a Victorian Gothic building. A bullet had pieced the skull. Cold Case detective Karen Pirie used forensic science to determine the identity of the man. He was a Croatian general who left the Balkans to marry Maggie Blake, an Oxford professor of anthropology who met him while on studies in Serbia.
Research in the field and the was crimes tribunal reveals that he had committed the atrocity of killing over 40 people in retaliation for the deaths of his wife an sons. A mutual friend of Maggie and the general discovered the truth. Maggie had to find the truth, along with Detective Pririe, who experienced her own loss due to male aggression.
