Plot

Gently and Bacchus are given an insight into the complexities of the emotionally wrought world when the adopted child of a middle-class couple is kidnapped.

Faith, the recently adopted baby daughter of Stephen and Frances Groves, is abducted in broad daylight, leading Gently and Bacchus to the home for unmarried mothers from where the couple got Faith. Mrs Dunwoody, the owner, tells them that Faith had a twin brother and the mother Susan Faulkner disappeared with him after Faith's adoption but, when traced, Susan is unable to help the enquiry. After a kidnap ransom demand proves to be a red herring, Gently discovers that both Frances and Stephen have guilty secrets from the past, which, in one case, will solve the case. Bacchus meanwhile reconciles with his father after years of hostility.—don @ minifie-1

Inspector George Gently and his sergeant, John Bacchus, investigate the kidnapping of Faith, the recently adopted baby of a middle-class couple Stephen and Frances Groves. Suspicion initially falls upon the natural mother Susan Faulkner, who disappeared with Faith's twin brother. Susan gave them up for adoption in the orphanage owned and run by Mrs Esther Dunwoody, whose heartless methods even prove illegal. Nevertheless the Groves have their own dark secrets, including adultery and young adult historian Gareth. John finally faces his broken relationship with his formerly abusive father Peter Bacchus, who now babysits his daughter Leigh Ann.—KGF Vissers