by Ann Cleeves
First published 2024
A dog walker discovers Josh's body in the morning light outside Rosebank, a home for troubled teenagers in the coastal village of Longwater. The staff member was scheduled to work the night before but never arrived. DI Vera Stanhope takes the case with only one lead: fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence has vanished from the home. Vera struggles to accept that a child could commit murder, yet she cannot ignore the connection. Working alongside Joe and newcomer Rosie Bell, Vera's investigation deepens when they uncover a second corpse near the Three Dark Wives monument in Northumberland's remote landscape. Local legends and superstitions begin threading through the evidence. Vera must locate Chloe to unravel the truth, but the community harbors secrets that threaten everyone involved. The case forces Vera to confront how far people will go to protect what matters most to them.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: missing-person, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Rosebank, Longwater, Northumberland, Three Dark Wives
Period: present-day
384 pages · Hardcover · Minotaur Books
Content warnings: child-death, murder