by Val McDermid
Independent
‘[A] cleverly plotted thriller…lost manuscripts, 200-year-old enigmas, an isolated Lake District village mystery and oodles of atmosphere: McDermid concocts a fascinating brew which is miles away from her customary bloody excursions into the realms of the perverse. It should gain her a crowd of new fans’
Guardian
‘One of our most accomplished crime writers…compelling’
Glasgow Herald
‘Cunning…gripping…so adroit in her pulling together of various items of historical conjecture and marrying them up to a murderous plot that has as many twists and turns as one of her Tony Hills…a substantially entertaining novel which grips the reader’s interest from the first page until the final deeply satisfying sentence’
Daily Express
‘Bodies pile up–one with bizarre tattoos–and trying to solve a 200-year-old mystery becomes increasingly lethal and readable’
Daily Mirror
‘Safe for the squeamish…one of her best’
Literary Review
‘An irresistible combination of contemporary psychological thriller and historical mystery filled with the moody atmosphere of the Lake District. And in Wordsworth scholar Jane Gresham, McDermid has created a character whose keen intellect matches her generous heart’
Tess Gerritsen
Also by Val McDermid
Cleanskin
The Distant Echo
Killing the Shadows
A Place of Execution
TONY HILL NOVELS
The Torment of Others
The Last Temptation
The Wire in the Blood
The Mermaids Singing
KATE BRANNIGAN NOVELS
Star Struck
Blue Genes
Clean Break
Crack Down
Kick Back
Dead Beat
LINDSAY GORDON NOVELS
Hostage to Murder
Booked for Murder
Union Jack
Final Edition
Common Murder
Report for Murder
NON-FICTION
A Suitable Job for a Woman
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
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Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
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1
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006
Copyright © Val McDermid 2006
Val McDermid asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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EPub Edition © 2006 ISBN: 9780007327669
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