When Josie Welford settles in an idyllic West Country village she honestly believes she can bury her past. She becomes the licensee of the local pub, and becomes a thriving and welcome member of the community. That is until Inspector Nick Thomas, the man who put her husband in jail appears on the scene. But Nick has a new agenda and is no longer after Josie. In his new position as inspector for the Food Standards Agency, he convinces Josie to change her local suppliers, a far from popular move in the close-knit community. Almost immediately she finds herself ostracised and when the village vet disappears without a trace, Josie begins to wonder about the village and what its erstwhile friendly occupants are the hiding? Reluctantly, she finds herself having to turn to Nick in order to get to the bottom of the mystery.

It’s morning service in a quiet village church. Josie Welford, wealthy widow of one of the country’s most wanted criminals and now licensee of the White Hart gastro-pub, is daydreaming during Father Tim Martin’s sermon. Suddenly the peace is shattered when a filthy Chinese youth flings himself into the church and demands sanctuary. Should the Church accede to the request for protection that no longer has legal standing? Or should it hand Tang over to the authorities? Josie supports Tim’s decision to protect Tang, but not all the congregation agree, taking their grievances to the Church hierarchy. But Josie’s friend and long-term lodger, the Food Standards Agency inspector Nick Thomas, fears for the boy’s life. Tang is almost certainly an illegal immigrant whose gang-masters would rather have dead than able to betray them. It’s not long before the media are involved, the subsequent publicity bringing fatal results, not just to the priest and the refugee, but to St Jude’s itself.