When Inspector Thomas Pitt is asked to reopen a three-year-old murder case which had taken place in London's luxurious Hanover…
Close, he knows that his superiors want him to smooth things over. But that is just not the way Pitt operates. With his wellborn wife, Charlotte, to aid him in penetrating the well-known reserve of high society, the inquisitive Pitts discover a secret so shocking it would lead to more deaths--and, quite possibly -- Pitt's own.
It's the early 1980s- the heady days of excess, dirty secrets and personal favours. Former detective Frank Swann is still…
in disgrace, working as a low-rent PI. But when he's offered a security job by the premier's fixer, it soon becomes clear that someone is bugging the premier's phone - and it may cost Swann more than his job to find out why.
When the pesky Anna Bunz arrives at the village of Mardian to investigate the rare survival of folk dancing still…
practised there, she quickly antagonises the villagers. But Mrs Bunz is not the only source of friction - two of the other enthusiasts are also spoiling for a fight. When the sword dancers' traditional mock beheading of the Winter Solstice becomes horribly real, Superintendent Roderick Alleyn finds himself faced with a case of great complexity and of gruesome proportions.