The Hidden Path

In the early hours of a late autumn morning, a car explodes on the M55 near Preston — and the fire reveals a murdered man in the boot.

Detective Inspector Claire Jones is Lancashire born and bred: sharp, no-nonsense, and allergic to loose ends. The victim is John Green, a Preston barrister so ruthlessly effective in court they called him a judicial machine. Someone wanted him dead and Jones is about to find out how far that someone will go to keep it that way.

The trail leads to Oxford, to a buried letter, and to Terry Parkinson — a local politician known as the Chameleon for how easily he sheds one identity for another when the law gets close. Green's last case may have been the thing that killed him. Or Green himself may have been the target all along, for reasons that reach further than one courtroom.

As Jones digs into a world where power buys silence and justice is for sale, someone starts calling her. An anonymous, patient, and personal caller. A voice from her own past, resurfacing at the worst possible time.

From Lancashire's farms to Oxford's courtrooms, Jones has to find the truth before The Hidden Path claims another victim.