The murder victim is discovered in the freezer of a restaurant kitchen. Evidently the body was there all day, as no one had occasion to enter the freezer.
When a controversial writer is found dead and her sister is found unconscious from a suspected suicide, Blake has to search out some truths about Ballarat in order to understand how and why the woman died.
When Blake is called to investigate the murder of a retired carpenter, his only real suspect is a teenage boy discovered praying over the body and covered in blood.
Doctor Blake has to piece together arson and a murder of a farmer. Meanwhile a leak to the paper about Doctor Blake will create difficulties for his relationship with Jean.