When the body of a young woman is found in an old 'dead house' - the annexe where the dead were stored before burial in medieval times - of a tiny Welsh church, it seems that past and present have come together in a bizarre and horrifying way. For DC Fiona Griffiths, the girl - a murder victim whose corpse was laid out with obvious tenderness - represents an irresistibly intriguing puzzle, given Fiona's unusual empathy with the dead. And when her investigations lead her to an obscure and secretive monastery hidden in a remote valley, she finds that the dead girl is far from the only victim of a sinister melding of modern crime and medieval religious practices. Only Fiona is capable of putting the mismatched pieces together in this disturbing puzzle, but immersing herself in this dark and obsessive world could threaten her fragile grip on her own sanity.