The first gripping historical thriller in the Inspector Albert Lincoln series by million-copy bestselling author Kate Ellis.

1919. The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is still reeling from four years of war. Just when the village has begun to regain its tranquillity, a young girl, Myrtle Bligh, is found stabbed and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove - a bird of peace.

When two more women are found murdered in identical circumstances, Wenfield is thrown into a panic.

With rumours of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the murders, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London to crack the terrible case - but with the killer still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious angel of death?

'Clever plotting hides a powerful story of loss, malice and deception' ANN CLEEVES

'Haunting' INDEPENDENT

'Kate Ellis has established a deserved reputation for ingenious whodunit plots' MARTIN EDWARDS

'A plot as devious as anything Agatha Christie devised' PETER LOVESEY

'Keeps you guessing all the way through to the final unexpected twist' L. C. TYLER