George Gently

Embittered by the hit-and-run murder of his beloved wife, Gently plans to collect his pension and fade into a lonely retirement. But after learning the whereabouts of his wife's killer -- the sadistic criminal mastermind Joe Webster -- Gently sets off for Northumbria, bent on justice.

Gently and Bacchus try to determine the identity of a body found in a wooded area, shot once through the head and then burned beyond recognition. Their only clue is a gold ring inscribed with the name "Wanda" found in the victim's stomach.

Shot down over England and billeted with a kindly farm family during the war, pilot Gunter Schmeikel returns to Northumberland to visit his former captors, now his friends. The joyous reunion turns tragic when Schmeikel's body is fished out of the harbor.