Titus Cragg and his friend, Luke Fidelis, investigate macabre goings-on in a remote Lancashire village in this intriguing 18th century mystery.

It's the sweltering summer of 1744 and when an epidemic disease threatens the town, coroner Titus Cragg retires with his wife and baby son to a remote village in East Lancashire, where he hopes his family will enjoy the healthy and tranquil air. But Cragg finds the rural atmosphere anything but peaceful when he's called to investigate the horrific death of a local woman who has fallen victim to a cruel community punishment.

Assisted by his friend Dr. Luke Fidelis, Cragg begins to probe the village's prejudices and simmering hatreds, as he untangles crosscurrents of suspicion, rivalry and rural customs which are very different from the ways he knows in the town. Then another local woman disappears, and events take a disturbing new twist...

|Fearing for his child's health, Titus Cragg takes his family to Accrington, but the town isn't as quiet as hoped. A woman dies from 'riding the stang' then the wife of a notoriously irascible squire seeks refuge with him. When she suddenly disappears, secrets about the lives of those within the town begin to appear, throwing people into disharmony.