Taggart and his partner Peter Livingstone are called in to investigate the macabre killing of the wife of a wealthy landowner whose body is found strangled and weighed down with luggage in a reservoir. The husband was last seen preparing to go to Switzerland with a large sum of money in a holdall.

Taggart investigates a failed rape attempt by a masked attacker. However, his job is complicated when the victim commits suicide and the criminal strikes again, and his attacks soon turn to murder.

The discovery of a charred corpse in a disused railway tunnel sets Taggart on the gruesome hunt for a ruthless killer in an investigation with sinister undertones of black magic and voodoo. The wife of an arthritic dentist narrowly escapes a series of murder attempts, adding to a complex case for Taggart and his team.