Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something lesssavoury - a human hand. The body, as Chief Inspector Wexford is informedlater, has lain buried for ten years. The post mortem can not reveal theprecise cause of death. Although it covers a relatively short period oftime, the police computer stores a long list of missing persons. Men,women and children disappear at an alarming rate - 500 every day. Wexfordknows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse. T..hen,only about twenty yards away from the woodland burial site, in the cellarof a disused cottage, another body is discovered. The detection skills ofWexford, Burden and the other investigating officers of the KingsmarkhamPolice Force are tested to the utmost to discover whether the murders areconnected and to track down whoever is responsible.