Since her neighbor Folke Bengtsson has an earlier conviction for the murder of an American tourist named Roseanna McGraw, he is naturally suspected of having a connection to the woman's disappearance.

Homicide investigator with the Swedish Police, Martin Beck, is put on the case.

After some time the disappeared woman's body is found dead in a wallow, and Folke is charged with murder and taken into custody by the police.

Beck's colleague Malm gets to investigate the police shooting and search for the survivor.

[1] Folke Bengtsson, the killer from the first Sjöwall and Wahlöö novel Roseanna, returns as a suspect of the murder of the woman.