The end of civilisation, as Peter Maxwell knows it, is just around the corner. It comes in the form of Fiona Braymarr, the new superhead. She is a new broom, and she sweeps good people along the way. And the odd thing about her? She has no past. And within days of her arrival, two local women have no future; one is found dead in a car showroom, the other is stabbed at the foot of her own stairs. Two murders so closely linked in time and space must surely be connected. Maxwell’s wife, DI Jacquie Carpenter-Maxwell, thinks so. So does her boss, DCI Henry Hall. And Maxwell? Well, it’s hard to keep a good amateur sleuth down.