DCI Hannah Scarlett is determined to uncover the truth behind Bethany Friend's mysterious drowning in the Serpent Pool. Though the evidence at the time did not rule out suicide, why would Bethany, so afraid of water, choose drowning to end it all?

When Orla Payne was seven years old, her brother, Callum, mysteriously vanished from the Hanging Wood in the Lake District. Shrouded in complicated family matters and with no clear leads, the case was eventually dismissed. His body was never found.

Historian Daniel Kind is finding winter in the Lake District tough, especially as he fears that his girlfriend Miranda may just up and leave. She wouldn't be the first. Years ago, Emma Bestwick left and never came back, her disappearance never resolved, much to the chagrin of DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the local Cold Case Review Team.

In the peaceful village of Old Sawrey, Warren Howe is brutally slaughtered with his own scythe by a mysterious hooded figure. Years later a tip-off sparks the interest of DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the local Cold Case Review Team. With the help of historian Daniel Kind, Hannah digs and discovers that, in Old Sawrey, old sins cast long shadows.

Death has already come twice to Ravenbank, a remote Lake District community. Before the First World War a young woman's corpse was found, a makeshift shroud frozen to her battered face. Then five years ago, another woman was murdered in the same grisly manner.When a third death is visited on Ravenbank at Hallowe'en, Daniel Kind, a specialist in the history of murder, becomes fascinated by the old cases. Surely this new incident is linked to the earlier killings? In a race against time, Daniel and the Cold Case Review Team, lead by DCI Hannah Scarlett, join forces to solve the puzzling...