Four mysteries involving Detective Inspector Lynley, eighth Earl of Asherton, and his partner, Sergeant Barbara Havers, from the working class.

Natural causes: While Lynley is suspended, pending the outcome of his disciplinary hearing, Havers teams up with a different Detective Inspector, Fiona Knight, to investigate the drowning of a young woman in her car. One guilty deed: Lynley is reinstated, and he, Havers, and their colleague Detective Constable Winston Nkata are trying to catch a crime boss. But when their star witness is found shot dead at Havers' childhood holiday retreat, she becomes convinced that cracking a twenty-year-old unsolved murder involving a local child will provide answers to both murders. Chinese walls: Lynley and Havers are catapulted into the bizarre world of Internet vice when they investigate the brutal death of Emily Proctor, a young barrister who had been moonlighting for her sister's online porn site. In the blink of an eye: Lynley and Havers investigate the death of paparazzi photographer Peter Rooker, who is found beaten and shot in London's Soho neighborhood. The mystery leads them all the way to a 1995 massacre in Bosnia, and brings tragedy for Lynley when Helen gets involved in the investigation.