Douglas Hunter works as a police detective till he attempts to locate his missing wife by abusing privileged access to police databases. Forced to resign, he takes on clients. His first, Alison Ogilvie, has deep suspicions of her husband, which prove to be correct when he turns up dead with a plastic bag over his head.

The two are pursued by Hunter’s ex-boss, DS Maureen MacNeil, who didn’t like him before and likes him even less now that he has gone private. In their attempts to discover what has happened to their respective partners, and to defend themselves from the abrasive DS MacNeil, they form an unlikely but effective partnership.