This book is the first in a new series featuring Charlie Woodend's protege, DCI Monika Paniatowski. It will be no easy task to fill the shoes of a local legend like DCI Charlie Woodend, the newly-promoted Monika Paniatowski tells herself - particularly when he's still a very real presence in Whitebridge - but given a little time, she thinks she can grow into them. Yet time is the one thing she does not have. On her first day in the new job, a severed female hand is discovered on the riverbank. And worse follows, as a second hand - belonging to the first victim's reputed lover - is sent to a journalist. The obvious suspect is Stan Szymborska, Jenny's war-hero husband, though Paniatowski refuses to arrest him. But is it the lack of evidence which is holding her back, or is it the fact that he is not only the most attractive man she has met in a long time, but also a fellow Pole? And will she give in to her insecurities and ask Woodend for his help as he prepares to leave for a new life in Spain?