In the peaceful wooded valley outside Swainshead, a quiet town nestled deep in the Yorkshire Dales, a body lies rotting. When the identity of the victim is discovered, so is a possible connection with a long-unsolved murder in the same area. But Detective Chief Inspector Banks knows that this wont be the last crime of its kind - because once a body is uncovered, other mysteries surface as well. Family rivalries. Secret passions. Private shames. And soon this dedicated detective must walk into the valley of death and bring a killer out of hiding.