To step into Hollingrove Palm House is to step into another world, filled with tropical blooms, lush foliage and six ancient stones. The house's owner, flash tycoon Tony Pardoe, doesn't believe the old wives' tales that swirl around these stones. A mistake he won't live to regret.

Pardoe's body is found, sprawled across the stones like a sacrificial offering. Now it's up to Detective Markham and his team to solve the twisted puzzle of Pardoe's killing.

The only clue? Another mysterious death, under the same roof. Thirty years ago, little Mary Priddy suffered a fatal fall among the stones. Markham doesn't believe in that kind of coincidence.

But the roots of these murders are buried deeper than he could ever imagine . . .

While Markham's grappling with his own, more personal demons, a third body falls.

Can he unravel the mystery - more tangled than the palm house foliage - before the killer escapes into the shadows a second time?