When Novelist Owen Quine Goes Missing, His Wife Calls In Private Detective Cormoran Strike. Quine Has Just Completed A Manuscript Featuring Poisonous Pen-portraits Of Almost Everyone He Knows. If The Novel Were To Be Published, It Would Ruin Lives. That Means That There Are A Lot Of People Who Might Want Him Silenced. When Quine Is Found Brutally Murdered, It Becomes A Race Against Time To Understand The Motivation Of A Ruthless Killer, A Killer Unlike Any Strike Has Encountered Before.