A decorated police detective inspector is murdered and compromising photographs are discovered in his room. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks is well aware he must handle the highly sensitive—and potentially explosive—investigation with the utmost discretion.

As Banks digs deeper in the past of the victim, Bruce Quinn, he comes to believe that the murder may be linked to an unsolved missing persons case. Six years ago, a pretty nineteen-year-old English girl named Rachel Hewitt made national headlines when she disappeared without a trace in Tallinn, Estonia. Convinced that finding the truth about Rachel will lead to Quinn's killer, Banks follows a twisting trail of clues that lead from England to the dark, cobbled alleys of Tallinn's Old Town. But the closer he seems to solving the complicated cold case, the more it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the past stirred up.