A killer at large – and for the victim there is no escape. It is 1995 and southern England is sweltering in a heat wave. Before he can take up his post in the Serious Crime Squad as a newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector, Ray King is summoned to investigate a murder. The victim is a young woman who is a private detective and former police officer in a suburban town where the local dignitaries have something to hide. The body count rises and, when it appears the case has been resolved, the killings begin again. The novel is a fast-moving account of crime and sexual entanglement that ensnares detectives and suspects in a web of deception.