The seventh book in the acclaimed William Dougal crime series, from the bestselling author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London. When William Dougal is invited to the cottage of a young doctor to look into a case of blackmail, he soon discovers that the village community is not as quaint as it seems. For hostility and deception brew beneath the surface . . . As a network of corruption is gradually exposed, the village is shaken by a series of chilling incidents: from a sweep of thefts to a ruthless hit-and-run. And when tensions escalate into murder, it's up to Dougal to piece the puzzle together - before another body turns up.