Part of Dalziel & Pascoe, book 17
First published 1998
Detective Andy Dalziel watches the ruins of Dendale emerge from a drought-stricken reservoir. Twelve years ago, the Water Board flooded this Yorkshire farming valley to create their reservoir. Before the waters rose, three little girls vanished from the doomed village. Dalziel was a young detective then. He suspected Benny Lightfoot, a strange local boy, but could never prove it. The only surviving victim, a girl named Betsy, identified Benny as her attacker before he disappeared without a trace. Now children are vanishing again. Dalziel, older and more bitter, wants to finish what he started. His partner Peter Pascoe has his own crisis when his daughter faces mortal danger. The receding waters reveal more than old foundations. They expose bones, buried memories, and long-hidden truths. The case hinges on what a frightened child witnessed years ago and what another person, now an adult, desperately wants to forget. Past and present collide as Dalziel pursues a killer across time.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dendale, Yorkshire
Period: 12 Years Ago, Present Day
384 pages · Hardcover · Delacorte Press
Content warnings: child-death