Inspector John Rebus is on the disturbing trail of the self-named "Disciple"- a copycat serial killer who models his crimes on those of The Preacher, who was responsible for similar atrocities 15 years earlier, but never convicted.

Rebus pieces together the trail of a war criminal who may have gone to ground in a very respectable part of town. But then he becomes drawn into a vicious running battle between two rival gangs after rescuing a young girl from a local gangster.

Rebus is working with colleague and friend, Jim Margolies, when they catch sight of convicted pedophile, Darren Rough, taking photographs at the zoo.

Billy Cunningham is found dead under the streets of the Royal Mile, the oldest part of the City of Edinburgh. The Scottish Crime Squad are interested, believing that there could be a link with paramilitaries and gun running. Rebus doesn't believe it.

Rebus investigates a series of murders after the killer leaves distinctive clues by the butchered bodies of his victims.

A Kurdish asylum-seeker is murdered on a notorious Edinburgh estate in an apparent hate crime, but Rebus suspects there's more to it.