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Leigh Russell is a schoolteacher.

D.I. Geraldine Steel expects the quiet town of Woolsmarsh to be dull. She quickly discovers she is wrong. The park is a place where children play, friends sit and gossip, people walk their dogs, or take a short cut to avoid the streets. But in the shadows a predator prowls, hunting for victims. A woman sees the killer and comes forward as a witness—someone whom the killer must stop at all costs. For D.I. Geraldine Steel, it is a race against time to find the killer before he strikes again, as public pressure mounts with the growing death toll.

Publishers Weekly

This tense and compelling narrative introduces an extraordinary new mystery protagonist. Escaping a failed relationship, Det. Insp. Geraldine Steel moves to a smaller town, which she hopes will have smaller problems. Instead she's put in charge of investigating a young woman's brutal murder. Her co-workers are alternately supportive and cynical, skeptical of her quick rise to the top, but Geraldine doesn't have time to worry about that when two more young women are found dead in the same manner and location and the prime suspect is eliminated. Geraldine's hunt for the severely disturbed killer soon makes her a target. A wide variety of characters come seamlessly together to advance the fast-paced, twisty narrative. Russell paints a careful and intriguing portrait of a small British community while developing a compassionate and complex heroine who's sure to win fans. (Jan.)