Rich. Successful. Dead . . . The mysterious death of Marion Cane leads criminologist Will Traynor into a deeply challenging and disturbing new case. Marion Cane swapped a successful city career in New York and London for a quiet retirement in a wealthy village on the outskirts of Birmingham. So why was she found dead in her new home just two years later? Marion's death was thought to be due to natural causes, until an anonymous note leads Superintendent John Heritage of West Midlands Police to ask DCI Bernard Watts and PC Chloe Judd to make enquiries. But when they arrive in Newton Heights, one of the villagers mysteriously vanishes. Still reeling from his own devastating news, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in to assist the team with an increasingly complex and disturbing investigation. Can Traynor push his own demons aside to see through distorted versions of reality, dangerous secrets and dark lies in his pursuit of the truth?