When Hadiyyah Upman disappears from London in the company of her mother. Detective Sergeant Barbara Haversmis as devastated as the girl’s father.mFor Hadiyyah and Taymullah Azhar have become close friends as well as neighbours, but because the child is with her mother, nothing can be done. The police have no jurisdiction in the matter and a private investigator fails to find her.
Five months later, Hadiyyah is kidnapped from an open air market in Luca, Italy and this triggers an investigation in the full glare of the media spotlight. Barbara’s clever manipulation of the worst of London’s tabloids forces,New Scotland Yard to become involved. But rather than Barbara herself, her superior officer DI Thomas Linley is assigned to handle a situation made delicate by racial issues, language difficulties, and the determination of an Italian magistrate to arrest and convict someone, anyone, for the crime.