Winter in the Derbyshire Peaks: months of knee-deep snow, short days, and rocketing crime rates.
Detective Sanne Jensen is living in self-imposed isolation and quietly falling apart, while Dr. Meg Fielding—Sanne's best friend and occasional lover—is struggling to cope with her violent brother, who is back in town and demanding money that she doesn't have.
When the murder of a drug addict is dumped onto Sanne's already unmanageable caseload, she suspects the death may be the start of something more sinister. But how can she investigate a crime when no one cares about the victim? And how can she stop a killer who has no identity, no motive, and no conscience?
