Part of Inspector Banks, book 20
First published 2013
Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks faces his most delicate case when a decorated detective inspector dies from a crossbow bolt to the heart at St. Peter's Police Treatment Centre. The victim, Bill Quinn, leaves behind compromising photographs that suggest deeper corruption. Inspector Joanna Passero from Professional Standards arrives to monitor the investigation, creating friction with Banks and his methods. Banks connects Quinn's death to Rachel Hewitt, a nineteen-year-old English woman who vanished in Tallinn, Estonia six years earlier. His pursuit of answers takes him through the medieval streets of Tallinn's Old Town, where someone clearly wants the past buried. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot works a separate case in Eastvale involving migrant labor exploitation and predatory loan sharks. As Banks navigates foreign territory and hostile locals, the two investigations converge in ways that threaten not just the truth about Rachel Hewitt, but the lives of everyone involved in uncovering it.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: corruption, enemies-to-lovers, investigation, missing-person
Setting: Eastvale, Estonia, Tallinn, St. Peter's Police Treatment Centre
Period: contemporary
368 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow