London, early 1950s. Marcia Beasley of St John's Wood is discovered dead in her home, naked and covered with a coal scuttle. Detective Sergeant Greenleaf is tasked with solving the crime and bringing meaning to her gruesome death. It is a discomfiting matter, not only for the victim's niece Rosy Gilchrist - eager to distance herself from her aunt's fate and raffish reputation - but also to the members of the deceased's social circle, all of whom, it seems, have secrets to hide and grudges to bear. Reluctantly Rosy is drawn into a mesh of intrigue, encountering those she would prefer to avoid and uncovering facts she would rather not know.