DI Kelly Porter has her hands full up in the Lake District – the seventh Earl of Lowesdale is found hanging in his family seat, Wasdale Hall, and the coroner detects foul play. At the same time, two young female hikers have vanished. It’s not the first time that women of the same description have vanished in the area, and as the clock ticks, it becomes more and more evident that the women were abducted.

When a body is discovered in the water, Kelly discovers links between her own family and Wasdale Hall. Are all the cases linked? And can Kelly find the girls in time?

Another brief review, following the last one, but it’s not that I’m pushed for time this time. It’s just that I don’t have a vast amount to say about this one. It’s perfectly fine. The central character is interesting enough, but there’s nothing really new here.

As someone who likes a bit of a puzzle in what he reads – you’d never guess, would you – I couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed with the denouement. Let’s face it, obviously the cases are going to be linked and the villain of the piece is pretty obvious.

As with a lot of modern series, there’s a bit of soap opera here, dealing with Kelly’s personal life – her parents, her sister, her boyfriend – and readers of the series (of which this is Book Three, following Dark Game and Deep Fear) so if that’s your sort of thing, I’d recommend you go back to the beginning as I felt I was missing a bit not having read the earlier ones. To be honest, this wasn’t really the book for me, but I can see fans of the genre enjoying it.