A junior doctor at a local hospital, April Latimer is a scandalous presence in the conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin: the independently-minded scion of a well-connected family, she has decidedly unconventional taste in men. When she vanishes, her friend Phoebe fears the worst―and calls on her father, forensic pathologist Quirke, for help.

Sober again after intensive treatment for alcoholism, Quirke enlists his old sparring partner, Detective Inspector Hackett, in the search for the missing young woman. In their separate ways the two men retrace April's trail through Dublin’s seedier side. But as Quirke contends with a beguiling actress, racial tensions, and April’s formidable family, Phoebe finds she is being watched…