Previously published as River Deep

A flood is coming to the historic West Midlands city of Shrewsbury. After days of relentless rain, the raging River Severn is an unstoppable force, sweeping through twisty streets and closed doors — where it’s about to dredge up the darkest of secrets . . .

Coroner and single mum Martha Gunn is trudging through Tesco when she gets the call.

The police have found a body. A John Doe floating in a riverside cottage. Whoever this man is, he’s been dead a while. Left to rot in the cottage’s mouldering cellar.

But nature has a way of revealing what people try to bury.

Martha’s family dinner will have to wait. Instead, she finds herself standing in a mortuary — the corpse laid out for her like a puzzle the police can’t solve.

Only Martha can piece together the truth behind the poor man’s death. But all her clinical expertise can’t prepare her for what comes next.

A funeral wreath — left on Martha’s own doorstep.

A warning meant for her and her twelve-year-old twins if she doesn’t leave this case — murky as the filthy floodwaters — well alone . . .