After a body turns up in the sleepy village of Rufford, Detective Walker returns from his leave of absence early, his experience deemed crucial for the case. But when it transpires the crime may be linked to a decades old cold case involving the murder of his sister, the crime becomes personal: he needs this—for his wife and kids, to make amends for past mistakes, and for the current victim—but he must toe the line if he isn’t to be thrown off the case.

Abductions and murder are not what ex-DCI Luke Sackville expected when he left the police after tragedy struck his family. Luke’s return to the workplace was meant to be a soft landing, but when a woman vanishes after being accused of taking bribes, he is assigned a disparate team and tasked with tracking her down. Their search becomes more urgent when her disappearance is linked to the death of a second woman. When a third goes missing, the hunt becomes a race against time.

SPIDER MOUTHDI FRED FAIRSERVICE has just returned from holiday when he’s confronted with several mysterious deaths; the mutilated dead body of a junkie, the apparent suicide of a housewife, and the murder of a cannibal, kicks off the strangest investigation of his dark and brutal career. But the strangest element of the case is the connection to the deaths of several old men and women who are found with spiders placed in their mouths.

Thomas Austin was once a prominent NYPD detective, known for locking up a psychopathic serial killer dubbed "The Holiday Baby Butcher". Now retired in a small beach town in the Pacific Northwest, Austin runs a little café, trying to overcome the loss of his wife, a DA who was gunned down only one year ago.

I can’t trust anything Cain says. Desperate for answers, I agree to meet Charlotte in secret. But it’s Charlotte who is full of questions: about our lives, our relationship. It’s only when she lets slip the name of the road I used to live on, that I realize how much she knows about me, too. Cold fear floods through my body. My husband may not have told the truth, but his lies are nothing compared to mine. If Charlotte knows my darkest secret, my whole life could fall apart. How far will I have to go to keep the truth hidden?