Chapters 1 - 4 Summary

Inspector Thomas Lynley is dispatched to Yorkshire to investigate the decapitation of a church-going, God-fearing farmer. Lynley's partner on the case is one Sergeant Barbara Havers, a woman with a reputation for being impossible to work with. Neither Lynley nor Havers can fathom why they have been put on the case together. When they arrive in the seemingly peaceful village of Keldale however, Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers find that not only do they have a murder on their hands, but they find that life in Keldale is not as pleasant as the locals would have them believe. With the arrival of New Scotland Yard, the tiny village on the Yorkshire moors must relinquish its secrets once and for all or remain a prisoner of its own dark past.

Father Hart arrives at London's King's Cross Station. He is out of...