While DI Thomas Lynley is still on compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Isabelle Ardery is brought into the Met as his temporary replacement. The discovery of a body in a Stoke Newington cemetery offers Isabelle the chance to make her mark with a high profile murder investigation. Persuading Lynley back to work seems the best way to guarantee a result: Lynley's team is fiercely loyal to him and Isabelle needs them - and especially Barbara Havers - on side. The Met is twitchy: a series of PR disasters has undermined its confidence. Isabelle knows that she'll be operating under the unforgiving scrutiny of the media, so is quick -- perhaps too quick - to pin the murder on a convenient suspect. The murder trail leads Lynley and Havers to the New Forest, and the eventual resolution of the case. Its roots are in a long-ago act of violence that has poisoned subsequent generations and its outcome is both tragic and shocking.
The series
#1 · 1988A Great Deliverance 
#2 · 1989Payment in Blood 
#3 · 1990Well-Schooled in Murder 
#4 · 1991A Suitable Vengeance 
#5 · 1992For the Sake of Elena 
#6 · 1993Missing Joseph 
#7 · 1994Playing for the Ashes 
#8 · 1996In the Presence of the Enemy 
#9 · 1997Deception on His Mind 
#10 · 1999In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner 
#11 · 2009A Traitor to Memory 
#12 · 2003A Place of Hiding 
#13 · 2005With No One as Witness 
#14 · 2006What Came Before He Shot Her 
#15 · 2008Careless in Red 
#16 · 2010This Body of Death 
#17 · 2012Believing the Lie 
#18 · 2013Just One Evil Act 
#19 · 2015A Banquet of Consequences 
#20 · 2018The Punishment She Deserves 
#21 · 2022Something to Hide 
#22 · 2025A Slowly Dying Cause Be the first reviewer
Sign in and write the first reader review.
