The murder of women priests in the eerie pilgrimage town of Walsingham in Norfolk draws forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway into an exciting new adventure. The Times describes it as "ever more inventive crime stories with a strong sense of place." When Ruth's friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary in a white gown and blue cloak in the Walsingham cemetery, he takes it in stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is, after all, a druid; visions are part of his job. However, when the next day a woman's body is found in a blue dressing gown in a nearby ditch, it becomes clear that a terrible crime has been committed, and DCI Nelson and his team are called in for the ongoing murder investigation. Ruth, a believing atheist, has managed to avoid Walsingham during her seventeen years in Norfolk. But then an old university friend requests a meeting in the village, and Ruth is astonished.