Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend finds himself in a backwater village investigating a murder in this taut police procedural.

1950s Cheshire, England. When the strangled body of teenager Diane Thorburn is found buried in the salt store, Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend is pulled in from London to investigate. An outspoken Northerner, he does his policing the old-fashioned way, and he is convinced that Margie Poole, Diane's best friend, knows more about Diane's last movements than she is prepared to tell. Then Woodend's inquiry turns up the death of another young girl a generation before. The similarities in the two cases begin to look more sinister than mere coincidence. Could there be a serial killer on the loose. . . ?

Spencer's US debut provides sturdy mystery-mongering, reliably quaint suspects, and an unusually detailed list of clues. Looks like Woodend was right after all * Kirkus Reviews *
This fine mystery succeeds as both as a nuts-and-bolts procedural and as a portrayal of an English village moving from the quiet rhythms of rural life to the contemporary beat of rock 'n' roll. Spencer conjures a great sense of menace in the troubled village, and her epilogue is a real stunner, promising more from a very talented writer * Booklist *