Nottingham, 1997. The woman was wearing a short-sleeved blouse and a long, flared skirt. A strip of white skin stood out on her left ring finger where there must have been a wedding ring. Lying on her bed like that, her arms loosely bent and one hand cupped in the other, her clothes without a crease, she seemed serene. At peace. If it’s true that the dead rest in peace.This is the scene Inspector Frank Elder sees at his first case in the Serious Crimes Division. His first investigation. An investigation that will never be declared finished: no arrest, so no guilty party. A murderer free to walk the streets, free to kill again.Eight years have passed since that day. Frank Elder wanted to put it all behind him: his job in the police, his divorce, and more than anything, the tragedy his daughter Katherine was involved in, a tragedy for which he partially feels responsible. The silence of his hermitage in Cornwall is interrupted by a phone call from his ex-wife Joanne. Her friend’s sister – a reserved and irreprehensible middle-aged woman – has vanished: he is needed in Nottingham. Elder does not want to return there, he’s afraid of his memories, of finding out that his relationship with his daughter is irreparably compromised. But perhaps it’s not too late, perhaps fate is giving him another chance: a case that doesn’t seem to particularly interest the police, just one of the many women who disappear, or more often, who decide to disappear without a trace. Then one day, the woman is found murdered, perfectly dressed, lying on her bed as if to take a quiet nap. And for ex-inspector Elder it’s the moment to balance accounts.In this third novel of the Frank Elder cycle, John Harvey gives us a new, exciting investigation that touches on the darkest sides of the human soul, a lucid and pitiless lunge into the heart of darkness of a humanity that no longer knows itself. This book confirms Harvey’s reputation as a master of the British thriller beloved by readers all over the world.