Joe Crozier, a businessman with a decidedly shady past, is enjoying being wined and dined, but refusing his host's request costs Joe more than he could ever have imagined... Bound and gagged, he takes a silent and deadly dip in the nearby river.

Meanwhile, DI Charlie Priest is called to another murder scene, only to find that the victim is an old school friend of his, the famous mountaineer, Tony Krabbe. But what could this amiable lecturer have done to deserve being attacked with his own ice-pick? And could the two cases be linked?