Vera

Stanhope investigates the stabbing death of a senior citizen aboard a crowded rush-hour train-and learns that the chief witness to the woman's killing is Ashworth's young daughter. The case takes the detectives to a tightknit community in the quiet coastal town where the victim lived and where, Stanhope suspects, the killer knew her well.

Vera and Joe investigate the mysterious murder of David Kenworthy, found dead on the beach at Whitley Bay.

Two local poachers are shot at and their truck torched-while less than a mile away, a man recently returned to the area is killed with a single round from a hunting rifle. The gamekeeper from the nearby estate denies involvement in the incidents, and Stanhope and Ashworth keep all their options open as they enter a world dominated by rural tradition and life on the moors.

Was the dead body found in a local river a case of suicide or murder? The victim was a successful businessman who was supposed to be on a business trip to Dublin. The waters muddy further when Stanhope and Ashworth discover that other law-enforcement authorities are interested in the man and that there was more to his family life than met the eye.