In the quiet Little Vestry of St. Matthew's Church, the body of a government minister listed next to a neighborhood derelict; both with their throats slit. Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh is challenged with the investigation of a crime that appears to have endless motives. As he explores the sinister web spun around a half-burnt diary and a violet-eyed widow who is pregnant and full of malice, can Dalgliesh fill the gap of logic that joined these two disparate men in bright red death?