The Canal Murders

In England''s East Midlands, a harried police detective juggles multiple cases that soon reveal the depths of human depravity . . .

DI Tim Yates has been following up for months on reports of missing farm machinery-with no success-when a local farmer and philanthropist is physically assaulted. Could this be a lead? If so, it doesn''t take Yates very far, since the victim, Jack Fovargue, refuses to accept any help.

Meanwhile, there''s a more urgent case to attend to-a decapitated body has been found in the Fossdyke Canal. This may be the first clue that finally connects a series of recent disappearances: a paper girl out on her rounds; a prostitute abducted off the street; an immigrant woman who vanished after stepping off a bus. After frogmen find two more corpses in the canal, and Yates''s researcher wife notes a similarity to a long-ago case someone is already in prison for, the situation starts becoming as murky as the canal itself . . .