 Carla Constanza, a very attractive Brazilian model and the advertising face for Monarch Tobacco, is found strangled with a necktie in Ravens Wood. The case is reminiscent of three similar murders that occurred nine years before. A German backpacker, an au pair and a hotel maid were raped and strangled in the wood, which was subsequently referred to by the locals as Strangler s Wood. The only difference with this case is that Carla wasn t raped. The evidence points to John Merrill, the Marketing Director for Monarch Tobacco. His expensive watch is found at the scenes and there is physical evidence his car was there as well. For Barnaby however, it all seems all too easy, particularly since the original murders were never solved and the now retired policeman in that case, George Meakham, still seems obsessed at finding a result. When a second person is murdered, Barnaby finally starts to make sense of it all.