A beautiful schoolgirl goes missing from a Cornish village on the day she tells her boyfriend and sister that she’s pregnant. The possibility that she’s been raped or murdered—or both—grows
with every passing hour, and Wycliffe is brought in on the case. The investigation reveals a complex network of family intrigue centered on the girl; and then Wycliffe finds a body—but not
the one he expects. Have there been two murders? As Wycliffe digs deeper, he soon realizes that just beneath the mundane surface of the community lies a web of hatred and resentment—a web he
will have to untangle if he’s to find the key to the mystery.