They called her the Swedish Maiden: the beautiful young tourist who disappeared on a hot summer's day somewhere in North Oxford. Twelve months later, the case remained unsolved, pending further developments. On holiday in Lyme Regis, Chief Inspector Morse is startled to read a tantalizing article in The Times about the missing woman - an article which lures him back to Wytham Woods near Oxford...and straight into the most extraordinary murder investigation of his career.