'It was evident, if there were no other entrance to the ice house, that the body had at some point traversed this thorny barrier . . . The big question was, how long ago? How long had that nightmare been there?'

The people of Streech village had never trusted the three women living up at the Grange – not since Phoebe Maybury's husband suddenly, inexplicably, vanished.

Ten years later a corpse is discovered in the grounds and Phoebe's nightmare begins. For once they have identified the body the police are determined to charge her with murder . . .

'The most impressive first novel in years' Daily Telegraph

'A seductive writer with an imagination that makes her dangerous to know' Sunday Express

'Terrific first novel with a high Rendellesque frisson count' The Times