Julie stared at him, submerged beneath the bath water, his hair rising like fronds of seaweed towards the surface. She couldn't see his body because of the flowers . . .

On a hot summer night on the Northumberland coast, Julie Armstrong arrives home to find her son strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers.

The stylized murder intrigues DI Vera Stanhope, and then another body is discovered in a rock pool, the corpse again strewn with flowers. Vera must work quickly to find a killer who is making art out of death.

As the local residents are forced to share their deepest, darkest secrets, the killer watches, waits and plans to prepare another beautiful, watery grave . . .

Praise for the Vera Stanhope series

'Vera is one of the new fictional detectives who seems not only like a real person, but one capable of conducting a murder inquiry. Ann Cleeves brings the same skill to all her characterizations in this highly impressive story' Daily Telegraph

'A dark, interesting novel with considerable emotional force behind it' Spectator

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