Part of Inspector Banks, book 28
First published 2023
Nick Hartley walks into his house in November 1980 to find police everywhere. His ex-girlfriend Alice Poole lies dead, her new boyfriend Mark Woodcroft has vanished, and Nick becomes the main suspect. The investigation stalls, but Nick cannot move on. He becomes an investigative journalist, spending decades hunting Alice's killer. His search consumes him and pulls him toward danger. In November 2019, an archaeologist digging for Roman artifacts discovers a modern skeleton instead. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks arrives to investigate, but the bones reveal little. Banks and his team work with minimal evidence to track down whoever left the body. The two investigations connect across time, building toward a violent resolution that ties Nick's obsession to Banks's methodical police work.
Genres: 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, determined-protagonist, past-haunts-present
Setting: November 1980, November 2019
Period: 1980s, 2010s
368 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: death, murder