Superintendent Andrew Dalziel, while drunk, has witnessed a woman being fatally shot-but her husband claims it was an accident, and everyone seems to be buying his story. His partner, Pascoe, meanwhile, is looking into chatty letters from an anonymous sender who says her resolution for the new year is to commit suicide.
In the midst of all this, Dalziel is participating in a locally produced medieval mystery play-and has been cast in the role of God. Playing opposite him, as Lucifer, is the very man he suspects of murder . . .