[DCI Sheldon Hunter 04] • Cruel as the Grave

A woman’s body is found near Miller’s bridge and an anonymous phone call is made.

When Liz Farrell’s uncle is taken in for questioning, life starts falling apart and Paula’s words ring in Liz’s ears: ‘you always do the wrong thing for the right reasons.’

Liz tries and tries to bury her fears so that she can take care of her aunt Helen and fend off her meddling aunt Paula but it’s just no use.

The police are swarming around her naïve uncle but Liz eventually wins over Detective Chief Inspector Sheldon Hunter and together the two of them might be able to help clear Reggie’s name.

At least it seems that way – but nobody is talking to the police and even fewer people will talk to Liz.

When a devastating change occurs, Hunter has no choice but to close the case and Liz has nowhere to turn.

Is Liz helping or is she dragging herself and her family deeper into trouble?

Hunter and Farrell find themselves ever more deeply involved with the irreproachably genteel society of a small Cheshire town where, surely, nobody could have a motive for murder … or could they?

Cruel as the Grave mixes an intriguing blend of the literary novel and crime fiction in this story that uncovers the darkness lurking under a family’s middle-class veneer.