Dr Megan Rhys, consulting forensic pathologist, is called in to advise the police when the body of a respectable married woman is discovered at her home in an ordinary estate full of ordinary families. She has been stabbed to death and a pentagram cut into her forehead. The supervisory policeman is keen to involve the media and to make his name on television, but Megan thinks he is following the wrong leads.

At the same time Megan's personal life does not run smooth and brings her into conflict with the university authorities. More bodies are found and soon Megan's sister is threatened by the killer.