Inspector Hal Challis is in bed with Sergeant Ellen Destry when he gets a telephone call informing him that a man has been beaten nearly to death. Challis has been notified because the victim is the chaplain at a prestigious boarding school and has ties to powerful local politicians. It turns out that he is also the head of a fundamentalist church. Before Challis can complete his investigation, another, seemingly unrelated, crime occurs. A distraught...

Detective Inspector Hal Challis and his crew, searching for a serial killer operating in a beachside town outside Melbourne, Australia, feel a new sense of urgency when the daughter of one of the police sergeants is abducted.

It takes months for Australian social psychologist Janine McQuarrie to succumb to her husband’s pressure to attend spouse-swapping parties, but eventually she gives in. Then, driving with her young daughter one day, she gets out of her car to ask directions and is shot and killed. The little girl escapes when the gunman's pistol misfires.
 Inspector Hal Challis of the Crime Investigation Unit is assigned the case, but his efforts are...