With this installment exploring an utterly chilling case following a disturbing killer, USA Today bestselling author Angela Marsons delivers the prequel to the internationally bestselling DI Kim Stone thrillers. In the darkness of a cold December morning, Detective Kim Stone steps through the doors of Halesowen Police Station. She’s about to meet her team for the first time. The victim of her next case is about to meet his killer…When the body of a young man is found beheaded and staked to the ground in a secluded woodland area of the Clent Hills, Kim and her new squad rush to the crime scene. Searching the victim’s home, Kim finds a little girl’s bedroom and a hidden laptop, but where is the child? And why does the man’s own sister seem relieved that he’s dead?

As Kim begins to unearth the shocking truth about the victim, a disturbing resemblance is spotted with the recent murder of a man found beneath the staircase of Redland Hall with multiple stab wounds. Both these men had dark secrets and Kim discovers a link to a women’s shelter. As a child of the care system herself, Kim knows all too well what it means to be vulnerable. Could the shelter be the key to cracking this case?

With the killer about to strike again, Kim is in deep water with a rookie squad. Inexperienced Stacey is showing signs of brilliance but struggling to hold her nerve and, while D.S. Bryant is reliable and calm, D.S. Dawson is a liability. With his home life in pieces, his volatile behaviour is already fracturing her fragile new team. Can Kim bring Dawson in line and pull her crew together in time to catch the killer before another life is taken? This time, one of her own could be in terrible danger…