Ex-cop, Laurie Downes has displayed erratic behaviour and has taken the law into his own hands. Having assessed him as safe to be released on bail, Jane discovers that his actions have a specific purpose. He is on the trail of two rapists who are responsible for the death of his lover. Jane has discovered that she needs surgery as the result of a Papp Smear where irregular cells have shown up. When one of the rapists is murdered, everything points to Laurie, but Jane finds that it is she who is the rapist's intended victim.

Jane rushes back from New Zealand where she has been lecturing, for the funeral of her best friend, Dr. Lisa Hardman. Staying to help Lisa's husband with the children and to wind up Lisa's psychiatric practice, she discovers a patient who displays a dangerous obsession with Lisa's family. Jane begins to suspect that Lisa's death was not due to natural causes and when first she, then Lisa's husband, get sick, Jane realises that she is dealing with a serial poisoner.

When gossip colominist for A-list magazine, Simon Laser, walks into a police station claiming that his murdered lover, prominent judge, Harvey Masters, died in his arms, he is treated with suspicion from the start. Not only was Masters seemingly happily married, he was also known for his strong conservative beliefs. Laser claims their affair was kept a secret and that the killer is out to avenge him by killing those closest to him. It is up to forensic psychiatrist Jane Halifax to determine if Laser is telling the truth, or if something more sinister is lurking under the surface.