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?