by Ann Cleeves
First published 2020
Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope drives through the first blizzard of winter toward her home in the Northumberland hills. She loses her way on the familiar route and discovers an abandoned car with its door hanging open. The driver has vanished, but a toddler remains strapped in the back seat. Vera rescues the child and continues through the storm to Brockburn, the grand but deteriorating estate where her father Hector once lived. Inside the house, guests celebrate with music and Christmas lights, unaware that a woman's body lies frozen in the snow outside. The blizzard traps everyone at Brockburn, forcing Vera to investigate the murder while surrounded by potential suspects. Her inquiry into the death becomes entangled with buried secrets from her own family history, creating a double mystery that threatens to expose painful truths about the Stanhope legacy.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: double-mystery, locked-room, secrets
Setting: Brockburn, Northumberland
Period: Winter
384 pages · Hardcover · Minotaur Books