The Shadows of Hawthorn Vale

In the Norfolk village of Hawthorn Vale, a locked manor house hides a multimillion-pound fraud and a secret worth killing for.

Investigative journalist Charlie Fitz-Gerald arrives to look into the Harebell Heritage Foundation, planning to pool his research with Arthur Meldrew, a stubborn veteran reporter who claims to have hard evidence of boundary fraud and suspicious payments by prominent villagers. Before Arthur can hand it over, he is found dead at the foot of the stairs in the abandoned Harebell House.

The killer tried to stage a fall in the dark, but a missing torch and a notebook left on a woodland stile tell Charlie, and DI Harcourt and DS Redgrave of the Heritage Crime Division, that Arthur was murdered.

Refusing to let the story die, Charlie and his spaniel Reggie dig into the village's darkest corners and find a blackmail ring preying on its residents' deepest shames, and a property conspiracy run by people who know exactly what they are doing.