Police Small Town Mystery

Oxford historian Daniel Kind and his partner Miranda both want to escape to a new life. On impulse they buy a cottage in Brackdale, an idyllic valley in the Lake District. But though they hope to live the dream, the past soon catches up with them. Tarn Cottage was once home to Barrie Gilpin, suspected of a savage murder. A young woman's body was found on the Sacrifice Stone, an ancient pagan site up on the fell, but Barrie died before he could be arrested. Daniel has personal reasons for becoming fascinated by the case and for believing in Barrie's innocence.

America’s justice system is severely restricted by bulleted definitions of awful crimes. Bad people have averted guilty pleas when the prosecution can prove all but one measly bullet point in the law. Not anymore. When bodies are recovered from shallow graves in an open field of one small town, local police think they know exactly who’s carrying out these heinous crimes, but their evidence is merely circumstantial. John Wolfe, a military veteran with a disturbing past, is assigned the case and watching the innkeeper's every move. Is he watching the right man?