A medieval torture device. An archaeological dig. Can DS Karen Hart unearth the truth? In the dead of night, four teenagers taking a shortcut through an archaeological dig site find a woman's lifeless body in a muddy trench, her hands and neck locked in a medieval device known as a Shrew's Fiddle. It doesn't take long to see that these are no ancient remains: the woman was killed just hours earlier.
Called in to unearth the truth, DS Karen Hart learns that the victim, local woman Alison Poulson, was unpopular with the archaeologists and the TV crew filming the excavation. Digging further, she finds bitter colleagues, an angry farmer and an oddly unmoved husband. Then there's the teenage girl who found the body, who seems to know more than she's letting on.
After a second murder rocks the investigation, it seems the killer will stop at nothing to cover their tracks. Can Karen unravel the mystery before another life is lost?