It's twelve days before Christmas and for the first time in a long while Detective Inspector Jack Delaney is looking forward to it… And then the killings begin.The first victim is a thirty-five-year-old woman found in a cheap hotel room in north London. Her throat has been slashed twice and her body mutilated. She was carrying no identification; the only items on her person are some coins and a small, broken make-up mirror. This horrific discovery marks the beginning of Jack Delaney's toughest ever case. When the expertly dissected body of a second young woman is discovered with a red scarf tied around her neck, it suddenly becomes clear that there is a psychopath on the loose. There is no obvious connection between the two victims and there are no clear motives. But the dead hold all the clues, and Delaney, together with forensic pathologist Kate Walker, must piece together the evidence and unlock the pattern behind the murders, if they are to stop the killer from striking again