Frank Elder

In the depths of his Cornish hideaway, retired Detective Inspector Frank Elder's solitary life is disturbed by a call from his ex-wife, telling him his seventeen-year-old daughter, Katherine, is running wild, unbalanced by the abduction and rape he feels he should have prevented. Meanwhile, in the heart of London, the takedown of a violent criminal goes badly, and Detective Sergeant Maddy Birch is uneasy about the reasons why, an uneasiness that is compounded when she starts to believe she is being stalked.  Maddy and Frank had a brief and clumsy encounter years before. In Ash & Bone their lives connect again when a second phone call persuades Elder out of retirement, only to find that a cold case has a devastating present-day impact.

A retired cop returns to the mean streets of Nottingham on a murder case that resurrects a haunted past in this "elegantly told tale" (Independent, UK). When Frank Elder's ex-wife calls him for a favor, he can't say no. Her friend Jennie's sister Claire has gone missing in Nottingham, and she wants him to look into it. Suddenly, he's back on the job...and back in the city where his life fell apart. Elder uncovers sexual secrets of Claire's that take Jennie by surprise. But when Claire is found dead at home-unmarked and carefully dressed-it is Elder who is surprised by the similarities to an old case. To solve this riddle, Elder will have to reconnect with Detective Inspector Maureen Prior and delve into dangerous territory, as well as the traumatic histories of several suspects.

When his estranged daughter Katherine suddenly appears on his doorstep, Elder knows that something is badly wrong. The breakdown of her relationship with a controversial artist has sent her into a self-destructive tailspin which culminates in murder. And as Elder struggles to protect Katherine and prove her innocence, the terrors of the past threaten them both once more.