One woman dead and one threatening to die set Yorkshire's police superintendent Dalziel and Inspector Pascoe on a chilling hunt for a killer and a potential suicide.

A drunken Dalziel witnesses the murder that others insist is a tragic accident.

Meanwhile the letters of an anonymous woman say she plans to kill herself in a spectacular way... unless Pascoe can find her first.

Dalziel has been picked to play God in a local Mystery Play, but can he live up to his role by solving this puzzling psychological thriller... or unveiling the passions and perversions that lie hidden in the human heart?