 Dalziel and Pascoe go to Amsterdam for a police conference. On the night of their arrival it already goes wrong, when the men lose each other. The next morning Dalziel finds himself into a room, next to him a very dead girl. Dalziel soon turns out to be the prime suspect. Soon afterwards another murder is committed, this time a body has been found, floating in a channel. Pascoe is left to carry out his own investigation with the help of DC Lateef and WPC  Posh  Spicer. As the story unravels, the disappearance of a young Muslim British woman, the murder of a Sheffield Wednesday football fan, illegal diamond dealing and police corruption all become linked to the murder.