Ludlow: exquisite medieval streets, an imposing ruined castle and a weight of history and legend. Wealthy, famous people come here to live. A sad teenage boy comes here to die...dramatically, at sunset, in a fall from the ruins. Accident or suicide? Either way, no great mystery. Or is it? Robbie Walsh was the nephew of former Detective Sergeant Andy Mumford, who calls on Merrily Watkins when his ailing mother becomes convinced that she's still seeing her dead grandson in the town. Merrily, parish priest, single mum and Deliverance consultant to the diocese of Hereford, is likely to know if his mother's problem is dementia, delusion or something even more disturbing. It's already a difficult time for Merrily and, following two more deaths, she's compelled to work undercover for the first time, discovering that layers of alienation and despair lie beneath the surrounding beauty, and that the shadowy streets nurture a noxious obsession with death and the afterlife.