Divorced ex-policeman Jackson Brodie works as a private eye on largely mundane cases until, by chance, he meets sisters Amelia and Julia Land. They ask him to look into the disappearance of their little sister Olivia 30 years earlier now that her favourite toy has surfaced in the belongings of their late father. At the same time, agitated lawyer Theo Wynne, impatient at police lack of progress, has him investigate the recent murder of his teen-aged daughter Laura at his office. With reluctant help from ex-colleague Louise, Jackson learns that Laura's teacher Jessup made a pass at her but had an alibi. Her boyfriend Josh, however, recalls that she had another, jealous admirer though Theo refuses to believe it of his little girl. Jackson is then picked up in a bar by Shirley, who asks his help in finding her missing niece Tanya. All these circumstances remind him of the murder of his sister years ago when he was a young boy.

Jackson finally solves the mystery of Laura's killer whilst Shirley, about to make a wealthy marriage, tells him that she feels guilty because she promised to look after Tanya, the daughter of her sister Michelle who was sent to prison for murdering her husband. Tanya went off the rails on discharge from a care home and Shirley wants to make amends. A meeting with Michelle however paints a different picture and Jackson is convinced that Shirley only wants Tanya found so that she does not ruin the marriage. Fortunately a happy coincidence brings closure for Tanya and Theo whilst the Lands' eldest sister, now a nun, throws light on the fate of Olivia. Jackson, however, is perturbed to learn that his ex-wife is leaving, with their daughter, for a job in New Zealand.

After seeing the corpse of a woman in the river - which disappears before the police arrive - Jackson intervenes,along with crime writer Martin Canning, when Paul Bradley is the victim of an apparently random road rage attack. At the hospital's request Martin accompanies Paul home on his discharge and gets a shock when he looks in his bag. Meanwhile Jackson learns that the dead girl was Russian and worked for a rather sinister cleaning company. The trail leads to an orthodox church also used by dominatrix Tatiana who was pleasuring dodgy businessman Graham Hatter when he succumbed to a massive heart attack and who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Graham's wife Gloria. After another Russian girl's corpse is found Jackson has reason to believe Martin is in danger and rushes to his house but somebody has been there ahead of him.

After Jackson's daughter Marlee returns to live with him, he is approached by Rachel Stewart, who is perturbed by her boyfriend Andy Marshall's frequent disappearances. Jackson follows Andy to a remote farm where he meets Miriam Baker. Miriam believes that the death of her estranged daughter, Isobel Marshall, a noted equestrian, was no accident and blames her then son-in-law -- Andy Marshall. Posing as a friend of Isobel, Jackson calls on Andy and is told by Rachel that he was having an affair with her whilst still married; and a colleague of Isobel reveals that Isobel was planning to take their son Freddie and leave Andy. Jackson discovers that Isobel was less than the golden girl suggested by her public image before working out how she died. His luck seems to be in when he wins a small fortune on a race-horse called Nobody's Darling but sadly the death of the bookmaker leads to the exposure of a scam and the winnings are frozen.