Second day back at work. Detective Chief Inspector Janine Lewis drops off her seven-year-old son at school.

As she drives off, a car breaks fiercely with a squealing sound. Janine sees the child flung to one side, the small body flying limp like a puppet, then landing hard. With a sickening feeling, Janine recognizes her as Tom’s classmate — Ann-Marie Chinley.

Janine gives chase, but the hit-and-run driver gets away.

When she finally gets to work she hears a body has been fished out of the river. The victim is in her early twenties, newly pregnant, malnourished as a child. Cause of death is strangulation. Time within the last 24 hours.

Second day back. Two murders on her hands. An ex-husband who’s completely unreliable. How is DCI Janine Lewis going to cope?

Discover the books behind the hit ITV detective drama, starring Caroline Quentin.

**Cath Staincliffe has been shortlisted twice for the prestigious CWA Dagger in the Library Award.**

Fans of Rachel McLean, Angela Marsons, D.S. Butler, Lynda La Plante, Rebecca Bradley and Caro Ramsay are sure to be hooked from the first page to the shocking final twist.