London detectives Lambert and Hook are entangled in “a beguiling plot . . . and plenty of twists” as they dig through a dead girl’s past (Booklist).
 
Gloucestershire is suffering through a brutal heatwave, but things are getting even stickier for Superintendent John Lambert and Det. Sergeant Bert Hook. The body of lovely young university student, Clare Mills, has been found strangled, and floating quietly along the Severn River. Unfortunately, not a soul who knew her is particularly grief stricken—or forthcoming. Not her mentor, or the postgrad student with the unrequited crush, or her dearest friend, or her ex-husband, or even her stepfather. And least of all, and most alarming, not even Claire’s own mother who barely elicits a blink when hearing of daughter’s brutal murder.
 
That they all have their secrets isn’t surprising to Lambert and Hook. But it’s Claire’s own secrets that are proving to be the most revealing of all. And they’ve yet to claim their last victim.