Detectives Harry Lennox and Jess Wilde have never seen anything like it. The dead woman is dressed up like a Victorian doll. She’s wearing a long, white dress, a bloodstained blonde wig, and a mask with red, cupid-bow lips.

Beneath the mask, her face is beaten so badly it’s unrecognisable.

DNA identifies the victim as Lori Lansing, who was kidnapped three weeks ago. Her wealthy husband paid half a million pounds to secure her release — but he never saw his wife again.

Then another young woman is reported missing.

Could Harry and Jess be hunting a serial killer?

Meanwhile Harry’s past might finally be catching up with him. And Jess’s new man seems just too good to be true.