D.C.I. Hart, enquiring about the death of a teenager, looks at his home in Selborne Street, a row of red brick houses where few young people live. The boy lived with his aunt and uncle who Hart finds gloomy and unforthcoming. Because the boy is quiet and makes no fuss they are unaware of what he may have got up to.

The house next door is unoccupied and it takes a while and a death before Hart discovers a link between this house and the death of the teenager. The whole case is, indeed, a family concern. The murderer is only on the margin of events and Hart has difficulty tracking him down...