A contractor is found dead on the steps of Collingwood Memorial after being attacked. Vera then discovers that the contractor recently testified as a key witness in a unhappy assault case, and wonders if the two things are connected.

DCI Vera Stanhope is called to the scene when the body of addiction support worker Angela Konan is found hidden among the bleak woodlands of Northumberland National Park. Vera and her team must peel back the layers of the introverted victim 's life to uncover her closely guarded secrets and surprising depths. as It appears an increasingly erratic Angela clashed with two clients in the week before she died.

Vera investigates a daring robbery at a port and uncovers a web of intrigue when it turns out to be an inside job. The insider's motivation isn't just money, his son has been kidnapped to make sure everyone sticks to the plan.

Primary school teacher Lizzy Swann is found dead at the bottom of a cliffside coastal walkway, but what appears at first to be a terrible accident, quickly becomes a cuddle investigation as Vera discovers evidence the body has been tampered with. Interviews with those who knew Lizzy paint a troubling picture of a guarded and paranoid woman who seemed to be burning bridges with friends and family alike in the days leading up to her passing.

Vera is called out to the grim scene of a body found in the back of a burned out car. When identified as a popular local GP, we enter the world of intrigue, betrayal, and lust.

The body of Lisa Mullworth is washed up on the banks of the River Tyne. Mullworth was the HR advisor of a local turbine company, and Vera and her team discover a mount of lies from her family about Lisa and their own whereabouts and their knowledge of the overall situation.