DCI James Langton permits Travis to go on a date to the ballet with superstar Alan Daniels, the prime suspect in serial killings involving low-rent prostitutes to gain information and mislead him.

Travis becomes romantically involved with the tabloid journalist covering the murder, and an anonymous phone call leads Langton to aristocratic ex-army surgeon Charles Wickenham as the chief suspect.

The discovery of the mutilated body of a young woman seems to echo that of the notorious unsolved 'Black Dahlia' murder of 1940s Los Angeles.

For eight years, some has been murdering women, following the same brutal ritual each time. The most recent victim doesn't fit the profile, but evidence links her to the others. Rookie DC Anna Travis volunteers to go undercover to crack the case.

Frustrated at being passed over for promotion to commander in favour of the younger, less experienced Sam Power, Langton heads the investigation into the murder of temperamental, promiscuous film star Amanda Delaney, who was seemingly about to embark on tell-tale memoirs. Langton and Travis are interested in a crucifix found on a corpse not belonging to the victim.

When a man brutally murders the surgeon who has just changed his face, the team find themselves in the middle of a double murder investigation as they also investigate the shooting of a retired police officer, known by Langton at a dealer's den on a seedy estate, which links into one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted, a dealer who vanished over ten years ago.