A man is found murdered on the last Melbourne Metro train to Hurstbridge. Detective Inspector Robin Lazelle, a thirty-year homicide veteran, leads the investigation.

Lazelle has grown up in a dysfunctional family and for the whole of his life has avoided crowds and noises and is more at home in solitude. He is not in any way gregarious.

At the same time, he is admired by his colleagues and considered almost indispensable because of his amazing skills as a detective. He may not be a 'people person' but he certainly can find the 'bad guys'.

This difficult case with its twists and turns challenges Lazelle and his team. For the man himself, now near retirement, it causes him to reexamine his life, his future, and his feelings about himself and for others.

The murder investigation, the unusual weapon, and the persons involved, many within the medical fraternity at St. Bart's Hospital uncovers more victims than just the deceased.

It is full of intrigue, emotional abuse, sexual impropriety that affects the lives of the people involved, both among the investigators and the investigated. .