Lafferton is struggling through a bitter winter, with heavy snowfalls paralysing the town, though at least the police can be sure the ram raiders who have been targeting antique and jewellers' shops will be lying low.

The biggest worry the elderly have is how to keep warm, until 82-year-old Doris Upcott is found strangled in her home, followed by the deaths of 2 other residents of the same sheltered housing complex. Each time, the murderer has left a unique signature at the crime scene, which should help DCS Simon Serrailler, desperate to identify him before he kills again.

When links are found between these and 3 similar murders elsewhere, Serrailler is obliged to cross unfamiliar territory in his search for answers.

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"Not all great novelists can write crime fiction, but when one like Susan Hill does, the result is stunning." Ruth Rendell
"Eagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fiction." P. D. James
"This is a crime series that specializes in side-stepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect.... The books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination all their own." The Independent

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SUSAN HILL's novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Llewellyn Rhys awards and been finalists for the Booker Prize. She is the author of over 40 books, including the 6 previous Serrailler crime novels, The Various Haunts of Men, The Pure in Heart, The Risk of Darkness, The Vows of Silence, The Shadows in the Street and The Betrayal of Trust. The play adapted from her famous ghost story, The Woman in Black, was recently made into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Hill was born in North Yorkshire, England and educated at King's College, London. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells, and they have 2 daughters. She lives in Gloucestershire, where she runs her own small publishing firm, Long Barn Books.

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