The novel features a dogged Norwich detective, 'Ketch', so named after his ancestor, Jack Ketch the hangman. Ketch (real name John Price) is an alcoholic, nearing retirement in the force and the story is told largely from his viewpoint. It's winter and Ketch is recovering from a nasty dose of bronchitis. He's also got the DCC on his back.
When parts of a woman's body start to turn up in various locations in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, DI Ketch of the Norwich police suspects the victim may have been a Latvian immigrant. Suspicion soon turns on the owners of a Russian restaurant in the town and after a short investigation, the owner's father is arrested for murder.
Several months later the body of another Latvian woman is found in a church in Norwich. Near it is a small wooden figure of the victim, contained in a miniature wooden coffin. It transpires that she was a sex worker who lived with her boyfriend in Kings Lynn. The body's discovery leads Ketch to suspect that this is the work of a serial killer, a suspicion soon confirmed by the profiler, Professor Bourne, who informs him that the crime is motivated by religious obsession. Kett finds a parallel with a similar murder in Scotland some years ago, which was never solved, although suspicion fell then on a known paedophile, Pieter Hess. He contacts the Dumfries police for detailed reports.
A few days later another female victim is found in the ruins of a chapel on nearby Ketts Hill, the body laid out in an identical fashion. Some minor forensic traces are also discovered....
