The third and final historical crime thriller in the Albert Lincoln series by Kate Ellis, the award-winning author of the 2019 CWA Dagger in the Library.

1921, Derbyshire. When a Member of Parliament goes missing in a small Derbyshire village, Scotland Yard detective Albert Lincoln is sent up North to investigate. He finds that a grim discovery has been made in a cave next to an ancient stone circle called the Devil's Dancers: the naked body of a middle-aged man mutilated beyond recognition.

The local police assume it is the missing politician but when Albert arrives in Wenfield he begins to have doubts. Two years earlier he conducted another traumatic murder investigation in the same village and he finds reminders of a particularly personal tragedy all around him as he tries to help a vicar's widow who claims her husband was murdered.

Then there is another murder in Wenfield when an unfaithful young wife with a passion for books is accused of killing her husband. Could there be a link between all of Albert's cases? And can the detective, damaged by war and love, find peace at last?

Praise for Kate Ellis:

'A beguiling author who interweaves past and present' The Times

'Haunting' Independent

'I loved this novel . . . A powerful story of loss, malice and deception' Ann Cleeves

'Fascinating, with a characteristically clever twist' Martin Edwards

'The chilling plot will keep you spooked and thrilled to the end' Closer

'A splendidly macabre thriller' Andrew Taylor

'Extraordinarily powerful' Peter Lovesey

'This could be an instant classic' L. C. Tyler