After a difficult couple of years, Detective Inspector Tom Tyler has decided to make a new start in Ludlow, Shropshire. On the outskirts of town, St Anne’s Convalescent Hospital, staffed by nursing sisters who are Anglican nuns, has been established in an old manor house to help victims of the war to recover.

When a horrifying double murder is discovered within the grounds, Tyler must figure out how it could have occurred in such a secluded and presumably impenetrable place, when most of the patients are unable to walk without assistance or are blind, or both, not to mention deeply traumatized.

To add to the puzzle, Tyler begins almost immediately to receive mysterious letters recounting terrible crimes far away. He realises that he is not only seeking the murderer, but that the horrors of the war are closing in on this place that was meant to be a refuge.

Maureen Jennings surpasses herself in her vivid portrayal of wartime Britain, brilliantly blending a classic murder mystery with a deeply human story of how the effects of war live on far from the fields of battle.