In this post-WWII crime thriller, a detective searches for a serial killer who’s made a hunting ground of the English Fenlands.
Det. Inspector Ivan Winterman has had more than his share of troubles. The Blitz left his young son dead and his wife seriously injured. Having made enemies in high places, his career is going nowhere. Now he’s back in his coastal hometown of East Anglia, England—a part of the country gripped by post-war austerity and the coldest winter on record—hoping to rebuild his life.
As the first snow begins to fall, a drunken ex-clergyman stumbles on the semi-mummified body of a small child concealed in a ruined cottage. Days later, another child's body is found in a Fenland dyke. Both bodies have been dead for years, preserved in the Fens, the cause of death unknown. Leading the investigation, Winterman uncovers a web of secrets in the small rural community—secrets that are darker and more dangerous than any he'd ever envisaged.