Part of Inspector Lynley, book 6
First published 1993
Deborah and Simon St. James travel to Lancashire hoping their winter getaway will repair their troubled marriage. They arrive in Winslough to discover the local vicar has died from poison. The official verdict calls it an accident, but Simon suspects otherwise. The investigating constable appears too close to the woman who prepared the fatal meal. Simon contacts Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley for help. The two men dig into the village's secrets and uncover a web of intense relationships. Residents harbor deep passions, old grievances, and murderous intentions. As the investigation progresses, the case reveals how desire and loss can drive ordinary people to extraordinary acts. The St. James couple must confront not only a killer hiding among the villagers but also the fractures threatening their own relationship.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Lancashire, Winslough
Period: 20th-century
576 pages · Hardcover · Bantam