Britain 1943. In woods outside Birmingham, the remains of a woman are discovered inside the hollow of a tree. Despite her bizarre tomb and the distinctive features of the victim, no-one comes forward to identify her.
Assumed to be a traveller or a vagrant, it is an investigation that in the midst of the Blitz no-one is interested in pursuing. DC Alec Porter, a wounded Spanish Civil War veteran, is the officer tasked with completing the paperwork, a routine assignment he takes more seriously than his superiors anticipate. He soon finds his enquiries pull him to the heart of a terrifying conspiracy, one that threatens not only those he loves and all that he believes in, but one placing the fate of the country and the outcome of the war itself in his hands.

Drawing on archived police files of the still unsolved murder, the author imaginatively weaves a tale around actual events and characters at times more fantastic than fiction.

From the writer of the acclaimed political-crime thriller All the Dead Men Lie.