Part of Inspector Banks, book 23
First published 2016
A fourteen year old girl lies dead in a remote countryside lane, drugged and beaten after being thrown from a van. DI Annie Cabbot takes on this brutal case while her colleague Detective Superintendent Alan Banks faces his first assignment in his new role. Banks must investigate allegations against Danny Caxton, a celebrity entertainer accused of attacking Linda Palmer fifty years ago. No official investigation ever occurred at the time. As Banks digs into the decades old accusations, more women come forward with stories of Caxton's manipulation and abuse. The superintendent must reconstruct evidence from an era when such crimes were buried and forgotten. His investigation reveals a network of complicity that reaches far beyond one perpetrator. Banks discovers that some secrets from the past carry enough power to destroy lives in the present. The deeper he probes, the more dangerous his position becomes as powerful people work to keep their involvement hidden.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: secrets-from-the-past, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Countryside, Remote Lane
Period: Fifty Years Ago
421 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: abuse, sexual-assault