When Alice Morgan disappears, it raises immediate questions for forensic psychologist Paula Maguire. Alice, the daughter of a life peer in the Home Office, has vanished along with a holy relic ? the bones of a saint ? and the only trace is the bloodstains on the altar. With no body to confirm death, the pressure is all-consuming, and Paula must put her own life, including her imminent marriage, on hold to find the truth. A connection to a decades-old murder indicates that all is not as it seems: can Alice be found or will Paula learn that those that are hungry for vengeance may be the most savage of all?