Though the Great War has ended, Bess Crawford finds herself caught in deadly circumstances on a remote Welsh headland in this tenth entry from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author. The fighting has ended, the Armistice signed, but the war has left wounds that are still agonizingly raw. Battlefield Nurse Bess Crawford has been assigned to a clinic for amputees, and the Welsh patients worry her. She does her best to help them, but it’s clear that they have nothing to go home to, in a valley where only the fit can work in the coal pits. When they are released, she fears that peace will do what war couldn’t—take their lives. Their officer, Captain Williams, writes to describe their despair, and his own at trying to save his men. Bess feels compelled to look into their situation, but the Army and the clinic can do nothing. Requesting leave, she quietly travels to Wales, and that bleak coal mining village, but she is too late. Captain Williams’ sister tells Bess he has left the valley. Bess is afraid he intends to kill himself. She follows him to an isolated, storm-battered peninsula—a harsh and forgotten place where secrets and death go hand in hand. Deserted by her frightened driver, Bess is stranded among strangers suspicious of outsiders. She quickly discovers these villagers are hiding something, and she’s learned too much to be allowed to leave. What’s more, no one in England knows where she is. Why is there no Constable out here? And who is the mysterious Ellen? Captain Williams and his brother’s widow are her only allies, and Bess must take care not to put them at risk as she tries to find answers. But there is a murderer here who is driven to kill again and again. And the next person in his sights is Simon Brandon, searching for Bess and unaware of his danger. . . .

本作の真髄は、大戦終結の陰で癒えぬ傷を抱えた帰還兵の絶望を抉り出した点にあります。看護師ベスが直面するウェールズの村は、肉体を損なった者が生存を許されない残酷な格差社会の縮図です。戦後という名の静かな戦場で、見捨てられた人々の魂の慟哭が、物語に重厚な文学的陰影を落としています。 霧に閉ざされた半島の閉塞感は、村人の猜疑心と相まって極限の緊迫感を生みます。孤立無援で真相を追うベスの強靭な意志と絆は、暗闇に灯る希望です。歴史の濁流に抗い、個人の尊厳を守り抜こうとする彼らの矜持に、読者は魂を揺さぶられずにはいられないでしょう。