The detectives of 'E' division return in another psychological Peak District thriller from the acclaimed author of Black Dog and Dancing with the Virgins It's almost May Day, and on the desolate moors of Dark Peak the villagers of Withens are dying. One has been battered to death and left for the crows to find; another chose the wrong time to call on a neighbour. And one has been dead for two years - though not everyone will believe it. As far as the parents of missing student Emma Renshaw are concerned, their daughter is alive -- which doesn't help DS Diane Fry in her efforts to re-open the case. Will a grim discovery finally allow the Renshaws to return to their normal lives or break their grip on reality? DC Ben Cooper's attempts to solve the killings come up against an equally impenetrable barrier in the shape of the Oxley family. Descendants of tunnel-builders, they stick to their own area like the hefted sheep on the hillsides, passing on secret knowledge through generations and guarding their traditions from the likes of Cooper.