George Gently

To Coles' disgust, Bacchus and his male colleagues are dismissive of a prostitute's claims she was raped and urge her to drop the charges.

A doctor's seeming suicide by lethal injection has Gently wondering why she has a bruise on the side of her face. Even the discovery of a suicide note leaves him unconvinced.

When the body of a cash-strapped property developer is found beneath Newcastle's Tyne Bridge, Gently again suspects a murder dressed up as a suicide. The death followed a fight with two childhood friends, one a union organizer, the other a restaurateur.

A bank armed robbery interrupts Christmas Eve celebrations at the station and sets Gently, Bacchus, and Coles on the trail of a gang of local skinheads.