Eleven years ago, Jeanie Long was found guilty of murder, despite unwaveringly maintaining her innocence. On the strength of new evidence, DCI Stanhope must put together the pieces of a decade-old murder-and stop a ruthless killer before he or she strikes again.

A woman is murdered in the remote Northumbrian countryside leading DI Vera Stanhope back to a place from her past.

Usually awkward and disinterested around children, Vera finds a kindred spirit in the boy of a murdered woman. Along the way, she realizes that the key to the case lies deep in the child’s memory.

Vera Stanhope is reunited with her first mentor after his home is firebombed and his teenage daughter badly injured in the blaze. Having survived an apparent murder bid, her old friend then makes a tragic decision, leaving Vera to find out why.