While forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy is interviewing Claire Lawrence, a woman imprisoned for murdering her own daughter, Jill's colleague and sometime lover, DCI Max Trentham, is facing suspension for harassing local businessman, Thomas McQueen, the man Max believes is responsible for the murder, a year ago, of Muhammed Khalil.Then Bradley Johnson, a man who had recently moved from London to live at Kelton Manor in the quiet Lancashire village where Jill has made her home, is murdered. As Jill and Max hunt his killer, they find themselves drawn deeper into Johnson's dark past. Local residents are always wary of newcomers to the village, but one in particular, Jack Taylor, a man who regularly walks his dog through the wood where Johnson's body was found, seems especially determined to hinder the investigation.Then another name crops up, that of Max's adversary Thomas McQueen. Can he really be as innocent as he claims?