Police Inspector Peter Pascoe has stumbled upon the remains of an ancestor unjustly executed in wartime. As he delves into the mystery of his disgraced great-grandfather's death, his partner, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel, is preoccupied with a shapely animal rights activist. Eight female protesters have discovered human bones on the grounds of a drug company's research headquarters, and the investigation has a shocking connection to Pascoe's own family case.

Spanning the careers of two of crime fiction's most esteemed police detectives, these four short mysteries are revelatory episodes in the complex relationship between Dalziel and Pascoe.In the opening tale, the chilling start of the Dalziel and Pascoe partnership--never before revealed--is cemented by a killer and his shotgun.In another, the duo investigates the fate of a woman no one has seen for a year, except her brother, who claims he is being haunted by her ghost.Then the detectives keep vigil at an isolated farmhouse, waiting to see what is making things go bump in the night.Finally, a...