A killer who feeds his victims to the pigs. A woman who finds her boyfriend’s head in her front garden. A strait-laced detective who’s attracted to a shady gang member. Carys Brignell is a young, divorced woman in her thirties. She owns a lovely home in Bishop’s Lock—a perk from her divorce settlement—and has a vibrant social life. One morning Carys opens her bedroom curtains and sees a head on a spike in the front garden. It’s Nigel, her new boyfriend. Detective Inspector Anna James is assigned to the case. She quickly learns that fun-loving Carys is a habitual liar and serial bed-hopper. She spends most of her evenings in her local pub flirting with young men, including roguish Joshua ‘Parole’ Cribbins, a member of crime syndicate the Northern Kings. Then another head is found on a spike on the edge of a field. And this time Anna knows the victim . . . Someone is targeting male associates of Carys—and ‘Parole’ could be next. Anna wants to warn him. She’s not sure if it’s out of duty or because she fancies him. But getting involved with ‘Parole’ is a risky game to play. Then Anna makes a breakthrough in the case that leads her to a farm on the outskirts of town. When she sees the pig pen, the penny the killer is feeding the victim’s bodies to the pigs. What she can’t understand is why?

Two young boys head to an old, abandoned warehouse to drink alcopops and hang out. When they barge the door open, a swarm of rats scurry towards the other side of the room. The eldest of the two boys pans his phone torch over to where the rats had come from. Dark patches. Clothes. A suit. A green tie. A man. The victim has been slashed with a knife and rats have eaten his face. Detective Inspector Anna James is called in to investigate. ID in the victim’s pocket reveals he’s Martin Lowe, a wealthy financial advisor who’s married to a famous supermodel. Then Anna discovers guinea pig fur was sent to Martin’s wife, along with a note containing a cryptic WHERE is the body in the HOUSE? The guinea pig fur sparks a memory for Anna. When she was a child, six men went missing and guinea pig fur was sent to their wives, too. Their bodies were never found. It looks like Anna and her team have a copycat killer on their hands. And if that’s the case, things are about to get a lot worse . . .

Two women. Twenty years apart. One deadly link. Twenty years ago, Effie vanished without a trace. She was last seen arguing with her cousin Shannon at the pub before storming home—except she never made it. Suspicion fell on Shannon, but with no body and no evidence, she walked free and the case went cold. Decades later, a young woman is found strangled in an allotment at the bottom of Shannon’s garden. And once again, Shannon finds herself at the centre of an intense police investigation. Detective Anna James finds Shannon blunt to the point of rude, but without solid evidence, there’s nothing to hold her on. With the investigation at a standstill, Anna turns to an unlikely her former lover, ex-crime boss Joshua ‘Parole’ Cribbins. He still has connections with the seedy underbelly of the town—and he’s all too willing to help. But getting close to Parole again could cost Anna everything. Then, a breakthrough leads Anna to a place known as the Cow Shed. What she uncovers there will change everything—and expose the horrifying truth that’s been buried for decades.