Set in Dundee, this fast-paced crime novel is the first to feature Polish Detective Sergeant Dania Gorska.

Volatile times in the city of discovery . . .

DS Dania Gorska is a stranger in a foreign land. Born in Poland and transferred from London to Dundee's specialist crime division, she is called upon to investigate a series of grotesque killings where the victims are first brutally murdered and then displayed in a bizarre manner. Although seemingly unrelated, clues point to the victims having been members of a local druidic cult.

While solving these murders is Dania's priority, she finds herself increasingly drawn to the case of two runaway teenage girls. But when she learns they were also members of the same druid group she becomes convinced their disappearance is linked to the murders.

And, despite what the evidence suggests, Dania starts to fear that the girls have not run away but are actually the newest, undiscovered victims of the killer . . .

Praise for Hania Allen

'Nicely nasty in all the right places . . . The story rattles along until bringing the curtain down with an unnerving twist' Craig Robertson

'Captivating characters and an intriguing plot. A great new find for crime fans' Lin Anderson

'Pitch-perfect . . . a witty, tense crime novel written in a highly readable style' Russel D McLean

Hania Allen was born in Liverpool, but has lived in Scotland longer than anywhere else, having come to love the people and the country (despite nine months of rain and three months of bad weather). Of Polish descent, her father was stationed in St Andrews during the war, and spoke so fondly of the town that she applied to study at the University.

She has worked as a researcher, a mathematics teacher, an IT officer and finally in senior management, a post she left to write full time. She is the author of the Von Valenti novels and now lives in a fishing village in Fife.