Lafferton is struggling through a bitter winter. 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 two 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 three similar murders elsewhere, Serrailler is obliged to cross deep into unfamiliar territory in his search for answers ...

Susan Hill's novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Lewellyn Rhys awards and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She is the author of over fifty books, including the six 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, has been running in the West End since 1989; it is also a hugely successful film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College London. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they have two daughters. She lives in Gloucestershire, where she runs her own publishing firm, Long Barn Books. www.susan-hill.com

"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 specialises 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." Independent

Susan Hill's novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Lewellyn Rhys awards and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She is the author of over fifty books, including the six 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, has been running in the West End since 1989; it is also a hugely successful film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College London. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they have two daughters. She lives in Gloucestershire, where she runs her own publishing firm, Long Barn Books. www.susan-hill.com