Winner of the CWA John Creasey/New Blood Dagger Award It's been ten years since Phoebe Marbury's husband disappeared from their country manor, Streech Grange, when one afternoon her gardener discovers a decomposed body in the ice house. Now in her mid-thirties, Phoebe shares the manor with two unmarried friends, and the rumors in the village suggest they're up to something--witchcraft, lesbianism, child abuse. Chief Inspector Walsh is eager to find out for himself when he's called to investigate the body. What he discovers is a faceless, contorted corpse and three women who have no interest in helping out the police, and clearly know something they're not telling him. Minette Walters's first novel gives a raw, contemporary spin to a classic mystery convention, and the result is "splendid . . . an extraordinary debut" (St. Petersburg Times).