DS Declan O’Hara is not a happy man. Tetherton is in the grip of a minor crime wave, he has a new boss to contend with … and, out at local beauty spot Dedham Heights, a bearded woman has been found brutally murdered.
For a sulky chauvinist like O’Hara, the fact that Chief Inspector Wentmore is a woman herself is bad enough. But she has secrets, too, and a past that seems inextricably linked with the murders that soon threaten to tear his world apart.
A psychopathic killer is on the loose, with a thirst for Biblical vengeance and under-age girls. But as the body count rises, O’Hara begins to fear that the monster they are hunting for may be closer to home than anyone dares imagine…