Dalziel and Pascoe investigate the death of retired police officer Donald Fitzgerald, who is found bludgeoned to death on a local golf course, in similar circumstances to that of Ted Barnes, a snout who was killed by local rich kid Danny Macer, who was subsequently acquitted of all charges on the same day. Dalziel is determined to prove that his old foe is responsible, but with his deteriorating health, and being knocked down by a hit and run driver, Pascoe is forced to inform the ACC, who takes him off the case and sends him back on sick leave. As a second witness connected with the case is also found dead, and an unsuspecting local is burgled after picking up a vital piece of evidence, Pascoe realises that the trail to leads to junior DC Dean Sheldon, who had been having a secret tryst with Fitzgerald's daughter, Christine, on the night of his death. And then he goes on the rampage with a gun.
