When an Edinburgh car showroom is torched Constable Bob Skinner wonders if a life of crime has finally caught up with one of the city's most elusive villains. But the corpse turns out not to be the owner of the showroom, but his wife. However, his priority is a murder much closer to home. Ever since memories of his first wife Myra's death resurfaced under hypnosis, the question of how she really died has become an obsession which could threaten his career, his marriage and even his sanity.