Some truths don’t set you free. The pandemic may be winding down, but for Chief Inspector Robin Bright, life never really goes back to normal.

One second, he’s having breakfast with his adorable husband—and their equally adorable Newfoundland, Hamish—and the next, he gets the dreaded call: a body’s been found. What initially appears to be a mugging gone wrong turns out to be murder, and Robin is on the case.

Adam Matthews is happy to act as a sounding board—much as he tries not to get involved—but when Robin’s case intersects with a mystery from within their own family, he’s embroiled whether he likes it or not. Loquacious genealogists, secret pregnancies, and a potentially dubious inheritance all ensure that Adam won’t be doing his hundred-and-one headteacher tasks in peace anytime soon.

Lies pile onto lies, and the more the story changes, the more the killer is revealed. Without proof, however, Robin and his team are powerless, and the murderer isn’t the only one with something to hide.

But Robin won’t stop until he’s found the whole truth, and nothing but. .