It is Halloween in King\"s Lynn, and forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway is attending a strange event at the local history museum - the opening of a coffin containing the bones of a medieval bishop. But then Ruth finds the body of the museum\"s curator lying beside the coffin. Soon the museum\"s wealthy owner lies dead in his stables too....

When murder strikes close to home, Dr Ruth Galloway is determined to find justice - without ending up in the firing line herself. Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, spends a lot of time looking at death. But now death has found her, with the news that her long-time friend and ex-colleague Dan Golding has been killed in a house fire....