In the past . . .
On a blisteringly hot August
afternoon in Crystal Palace, once home to the tragically destroyed Great
Exhibition, a solitary thirteen-year-old boy meets his next-door
neighbor, a recently widowed young teacher hoping to make a new start in
the tight-knit South London community. Drawn together by loneliness,
the unlikely pair forms a deep connection that ends in a shattering act
of betrayal.
In the present . . .
On a cold January morning in
London, Detective Inspector Gemma James is back on the job now that her
husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, is at home to care for
their three-year-old foster daughter. Assigned to lead a Murder
Investigation Team in South London, she's assisted by her trusted
colleague, newly promoted Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot. Their first
case: a crime scene at a seedy hotel in Crystal Palace. The victim: a
well-respected barrister, found naked, trussed, and apparently
strangled. Is it an unsavory accident or murder? In either case, he was
not alone, and Gemma's team must find his companion—a search that takes
them into unexpected corners and forces them to contemplate unsettling
truths about the weaknesses and passions that lead to murder.
Ultimately, they will begin to question everything they think they know
about their world and those they trust most.
