Rebus investigates when a number of women are killed with the same modus operandi as 'The Preacher', a prolific serial killer active in Edinburgh during the 1980s.

Rebus investigates when an old friend, DI Jack Morton, is shot.

Rebus is forced to juggle two complex cases.

Rebus is forced to revisit a pact he made with a crime lord.

Rebus delves into the case of a former obstetrician's murder, discovering the victim in his residence, subjected to torture. A hint left behind by the perpetrator directs Rebus to the nearby museum, setting him on the path of uncovering a stalker with their sights on a university student.

Rebus delves into the case of a deceased Kosovan citizen discovered in a grimy Edinburgh neighborhood. However, a hateful epithet etched onto the victim's head brings him into the orbit of a collection of Edinburgh's underworld leaders, and before too much time passes, another lifeless body comes to light.