Oxford historian Daniel Kind and his partner Miranda both want to escape to a new life. On impulse they buy a cottage in Brackdale, an idyllic valley in the Lake District. But though they hope to live the dream, the past soon catches up with him... Tarn Cottage was once home to Barrie Gilpin, suspected of a savage murder. A young woman's body was found on the Sacrifice Stone, an ancient pagan site up on the fell., but Barrie died before he could be arrested. Daniel has personal reasons for bcoming fascinated by the case and for believing in Barrie's innocence. When the police launch a cold case review, Brackdale's skeletons begin to rattle and the lives of Daniel and DCI Hannah Scarlett become strangely entwined. Daniel and Hannah find themselves risking their lives as they search for a ruthless murderer who is prepared to kill again to hide a shocking secret.

Warren Howe is surprised by a hooded visitor whilst working in a garden in Old Sawrey. Soon he is dead - murdered with his own scythe. As the years pass, the culprit has yet to be found. However, after an anonymous tip-off, DCI Hannah Scarlett is soon on the case. Then there is yet another horrifying death.

After 10 years, Guy—a drifter with a taste for deception—has returned to Coniston in England's Lake District. A local journalist, Tony di Venuto, is campaigning to revive interest in the disappearance of Emma Bestwick, and Guy knows what happened to her. When he tips off the newspaperman that Emma will not be coming home, DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of Cumbria's Cold Case Review Team, re-opens the old investigation. Her enquiries take her to the Museum of Myth and Legend and to the remote and eerie Arsenic Labyrinth—a series of stone tunnels used to remove arsenic from tin ore. Meanwhile, historian Daniel Kind is immersing himself in the work of John Ruskin, whose neighbors created the Arsenic Labyrinth. A shocking discovery makes it clear to Hannah that there is not one mystery to solve, but two, and she turns to Daniel for help in untangling the secrets of the past. As Hannah and Daniel struggle to resist a growing but dangerous attraction, Guy's plan to make a quick buck runs into trouble, and he has to resort to desperate measures. Someone is determined to kill to keep their secrets safe. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Lake District in winter, the novel depicts how passionate relationships can lead to obsession and murder.

"An unusual and challenging puzzle mystery that will keep [you] guessing until the final pages. Wow!" ― Library Journal STARRED review Seven years ago, Bethany Friend was found drowned in mere inches of water in the lonely Serpent Pool in England's Lake District. Was it suicide or murder? Now, determined to win justice for Bethany's dying mother, DCI Hannah Scarlett of the Cold Case Squad re-opens the case. But Hannah has problems of her a new sergeant with a reputation for causing trouble, a new house close to the Serpent Pool, and new cause to doubt her partner, second-hand bookseller Marc Amos. Worried by dwindling finances and the horrific death of one of his best customers, Marc finds himself drawn to the lovely and enigmatic Cassie Weston, who works in his shop. Then Hannah meets Louise Kind, sister of historian Daniel Kind. Louise has been living with book collector and lawyer Stuart Wagg, and has just confessed to her brother that she struck Wagg with a knife. Searching for the supposed victim, Hannah and Daniel―who is writing a book about the brilliant but opium-addicted 19th-century English writer Thomas De Quincey―encounter dark secrets and strange obsessions that oddly echo De Quincey's drug-fueled writings.

Twenty years after her brother Callum mysteriously vanished, Orla Payne is still haunted by his disappearance. The case was closed after her uncle’s suicide - the police believed he killed himself in the Hanging Wood out of guilt over murdering the boy, even though no body was ever found. Daniel Kind recommends Orla contact DCI Hannah Scarlett, Head of the Lake District Cold Case Review Team, to see if she can discover the truth about what really happened all those years ago. Hannah doubts there is anything to be done on such a long-dead case, But when Orla is found dead, she reconsiders. Soon DCI Scarlett discovers that investigating the past can throw up some very dangerous truths indeed.

On Halloween, just before the First World War, a young woman's corpse was found with a makeshift shroud frozen to her battered face. Her ghost - the Faceless Woman - is said to walk through Ravenbank each Halloween. Just five years ago, Katya Moss was killed, her face also covered to hide her injuries. The seemingly related cases fascinate Daniel Kind, a specialist in the history of murder. Then, while he is attending a Halloween party in Ravenbank, a third murder occurs. Once again, the corpse's face is shrouded from view. This can't be a coincidence. It all presents DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the Cold Case Review Team, with the toughest challenge of her career. Hannah and Daniel team up professionally. But before they can solve this shocking puzzle, both of them must confront ghosts from their own past, as well as the ghosts of lonely, lovely, and mysterious Ravenbank.

The magnificent Dungeon House and gardens overlook Cumbria’s remote western coast with its mix of beaches, dunes, and fells, Roman ruins, and nuclear plant. Twenty years ago the wealthy Whiteleys called it home. But not a happy one. Malcolm Whiteley had begun to disintegrate under financial and emotional pressures. He suspected various men in their social circle of being his wife’s lover. After a disastrous party for the neighbours, Lysette told Malcolm their marriage was over. Sadly an old Winchester rifle he had been hiding was at hand…. Fast forward to today. Hannah Scarlett’s cold case team is looking into the three-year-old disappearance of Lily Elstone whose father Gray had been Malcolm’s accountant. The investigation coincides with yet another disappearance of a teenage girl: Shona Whiteley, daughter of Malcolm’s nephew Nigel, who now lives in the Dungeon House despite its tragic history. As Hannah’s team digs down into the past, doubts arise about what really happened the night Malcolm killed his wife and 16-year-old daughter Amber, then himself. Most of the people once close to the Whiteleys still live nearby. And one Joanna Footit, and her secrets, now returns from London. While Hannah leads the complex police inquiries, it is her lover, historian Daniel Kind, who supplies Hannah with the lead that unlocks the whole. Does it come too late?

Calm waters are often deceptive―and dangerous. Ramona Smith went missing, presumed murdered twenty-one years ago; her body was never recovered. Gerald Lace, accused, tried, and acquitted of the crime, took his own life shortly thereafter in the lovely-but-lethal waters along the Crooked Shore. In his suicide note, he blamed the police for wrongfully arresting him and ruining his life. On the twentieth anniversary of his father's suicide, Darren Lace has drowned himself in the very same spot. His death reopens the original investigation for cold case detective DCI Hannah Scarlett. Desperate to finally find answers, Hannah and her team chase leads as meandering as the shoreline. As the body count rises, old scores threaten to consume those dearest to Hannah. Will she be able to unwind both mysteries before her loved ones become collateral damage?