Leslie Scase

In this new mystery Inspector Chard is confronted with another murder in bustling Victorian Pontypridd. On the face of it the case appears unremarkable, even if it isnt obviously solvable, but following new leads takes Chard into unexpected places. A second murder, a sexual predator, industrial espionage and a mining disaster crowd into the investigation, baffling the Inspector and his colleagues and putting his own life at risk as the murderer attempts to avoid capture. Chard navigates a way through the clues and red herrings, and a lengthening list of suspects, towards the poisoner. Atmospheric, authentic, Chard and the reader are left guessing until the final page.

Pontypridd, 1893. A train crashes, and in the chaos of the disaster a killer covers the trail of a violent murder, but one of the crash victims is identified by means of a pocket watch. Two years later, Thomas Chard's arrival in town to take up his post as inspector in the burgeoning police force coincides with the grisly discovery of a body in the River Taff.