Hardworking Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton has been instructed to take it easy, and is therefore assigned a supposedly laid-back assignment - to guard the American Vice-President Caleb Hartley on a visit to the U.K.
However, the task turns out to be anything but straightforward.
The Vice President believes he has British ancestors and wants to track down his family history.
Pemberton is one step ahead of him, and decides to delve into his ancestry prior to his arrival. What he discovers threatens to shake the family history to the core: the unsolved murder of Private James Hartley in 1916.
At the time, there hadn’t been a detailed murder investigation, and initial suspicions had put the death down to a suicide. But the detective soon realises that this was not a suicide dressed up to look like a murder, but that beyond all doubt, it was murder.
The plot thickens as the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death come to light. James Hartley was about to join the war effort in France the night he was shot dead with a bullet to his brain.
Pemberton becomes increasingly convinced that Hartley was lured to his death, and that others within the family helped to conceal the truth about what happened that fateful night.
He refuses to let old ghosts be put to rest, and begins to dig up past clues that could help piece together the gruesome story.
Who would want to murder this hard-working, well-loved private?
And is it too late to uncover the truth of a dark family secret that has remained concealed for decades?
'A gripping page-turner' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Cold Kill'.
For the last 30 years, Nicholas Rhea has been writing books, drawing on his experiences in the police force, his never-ending enthusiasm for Yorkshire and his continuing interest in crime fact and fiction. His best known work, the Constable stories, provided the inspiration for the hugely popular Heartbeat TV series, and he remained involved with the series as a consultant until filming ended in 2009. His books include 'Confessions' and 'A Well-Pressed Shroud'.
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Nicholas Rhea is the pseudonym of Peter N. Walker, who served for 30 years in the North Yorkshire police, ultimately as an inspector. He retired from the force in 1982 to concentrate on his writing.
He is also the author of the 'Constable' books (Hale) on which the television series Heartbeat is based.
