A year after the shooting incident which wounded them both Gently persuades a disillusioned Bacchus to accompany him to Newcastle where vagrant Simon Thomas has died in police custody. He was apparently part of a protest group demonstrating against the demolition of houses for building clearance, a demonstration which turned into a riot where policeman Ashton was fatally wounded. Resentful of the investigators the local police close ranks though all deny a revenge killing. When WPC Coles, who found Simon's corpse, is apparently forced to resign on grounds of negligence Gently believes she is taking the rap for her male colleagues. Discovering the true motive for Simon's death Bacchus regains his confidence as he helps Gently arrest the real killer. Written by don @ minifie-1

Rachel Coles is now working with Gently but Bacchus, already angry at the restrictive access ex-wife Lisa gives him to their daughter, is not exactly welcoming. The team is called in when the body of Megan Webb is found on a beach. Megan worked at the Bluebird holiday camp run by brother and sister Todd and Cherry Stretch, anxious to keep the camp their father opened in the family despite falling numbers of guests. Megan's correct mother Agnes was unsympathetic to her daughter's desire to become a performer but, having paid a secret visit to her and watched her sing, she admits to being proud of her. Bacchus takes a dislike to Gary Manners, Megan's boyfriend and self-styled ladies man who, on the night of the murder, was having sex with married Sylvia Ryan - for money. Indeed Gently realizes that many of the staff, male and female, were working as prostitutes to keep the camp afloat and that Megan's reluctance to take part ultimately would lead to her death. Not only does Gently solve... Written by don @ minifie-1

Young Scott Tanner flees a gay Turkish bath after apparently killing a man for no reason and is found wandering, with no memory of what happened. Scott had been discharged from the army on mental health grounds and was seeing psychiatrist Stefan Lesley, who is murdered after speaking to Gently and whose will names six beneficiaries, including Scott, all soldiers. Stefan had previously worked at a sinister military establishment, Hopewood, where Gently finds himself stone-walled, but where Stefan had visited the day before his death. Eventually Gently learns from Hopewood psychiatrist Jennifer Bing that the six legatees had all been soldiers involved in drug trials as part of a Cold War experiment. They all had another secret which Stefan wanted to expose, resulting in his death at the hands of the person who brainwashed Scott and his friends. Written by don @ minifie-1

Gently and Bacchus are called to Burnsend Colliery, a pit facing closure, where shop steward Arthur Hawkes has been murdered and his body left underground for some days. Fellow miners Billy and Panda are angry because they believe Arthur knew the pit was due to shut and had got a job elsewhere whilst Arthur disapproved of his daughter Hannah seeing young miner Joe Turner and his son held him responsible for his mother's early death. Three hundred pounds is found in Arthur's locker, his winnings from owning a racing greyhound. This leads to Gently uncovering a greyhound doping scandal but it is the revelation of a secret from a quarter of a century earlier which finally unmasks the killer. Written by don @ minifie-1