Ireland 1947. Seven weeks of relentless snow. Guard Eamon Foley is searching for a missing child.
At Toby Appleyard's farm, he discovers the kitchen littered with dead cats. And the skeletal remains of a woman. Upstairs, Toby is dead in his bed.
But was it murder? Or natural causes brought on by the unusually prolonged bout of bitter weather? Were the cats locked in accidentally? Or deliberately used to devour the evidence of foul play?
It was common knowledge that resentment against the Appleyards still festered amongst the tenants over something that happened twelve years ago.
Was it possible it all came to a head on New Year's Day, the last time the Appleyards were seen alive?
But it was now March. Could the Appleyards have been dead all that time and no one noticed? Did Foley believe the severe snow kept the tenants from calling on the Appleyards for so long?
Guard Eamon Foley had so many suspects, he was spoilt for choice.