Changes

After the wettest summer for a hundred years we'll all be familiar with what happened in Lafferton. Heavy rain caused a landslip on the moors, blocking the nearby road. Thankfully, what we're not familiar with was the presence of a shallow grave and the skeleton of a teenage girl. The sharp eyes of one of the forensic team spotted that something wasn't quite right in another area - and a second grave was revealed. It was easy to identify the first body - the young girl had gone missing from the town sixteen years before - but the second body proved more difficult. And, in a time of financial cuts and staff shortages it's down to Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler to tackle the cold case on his own with just a little help on the new murder case.

Well, it simply wasn't a problem. I'm sure that there were areas where I would have gained more from knowing the backstory, but Hill treads a fine line between saying nothing and boring established readers with too much backstory. It's an engaging cast of characters, centring on Serrailller and his widowed sister, Dr Cat Deerbon. There's a thought-provoking theme about the suffering of those with (ultimately) terminal illnesses and those who care for them. I certainly rearranged quite a few of my prejudices about assisted suicide.