The Cutting Stone

A body buried between rock and ice, at a Peak District beauty spot, reveals a secret too close to home for Joe and Laurie in this second DS Joseph Ashe thriller.

When a half-frozen body is found under the Bawd Stone, a local landmark linked with pagan ritual, DI Laurie Bower’s first call is to her best detective sergeant, Joseph Ashe. On leave after a traumatic case, Joe is still haunted by the tragedy he survived 17 years ago, when a school bus veered off the road and everyone drowned except him.

Joe and Laurie join forces as this new case takes them back to her old stamping ground of inner-city Manchester. But when the body is identified as Godfrey Hulme, her dead sister’s counsellor, it quickly becomes a deeply personal murder investigation. The truth of what happened, in both the past and the present, will have devastating consequences for Laurie and Joe alike.

'Gripping' Erin Kelly

'Triumphant' Elly Griffiths

© Sarah Hilary 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027