In Blood Stepped Deep - John Saxton

The stage is set. The victims are chosen. The next act is murder.

When DI Dan Sutton returns to Pontefract - the small Yorkshire town he once called home - expecting a slower pace of life to the one he left behind, he is quickly proven wrong.

When a charred, severed head is discovered at Pontefract Castle at the end of a performance of Henry VI part 1, Sutton and his new colleague DS Fox, are thrust centre-stage in a case that is as grotesque as it is baffling.

What appears to be a shocking one-off quickly spirals into something far darker, when a second body emerges, revealing a horrifying connection to the first. Then a potential witness turns up dead.

As Sutton follows every lead, from embittered critics to a secretive theatre director and a volatile local addict, the line between performance and reality begin to blur. Everyone has something to hide. Everyone has a motive.

And the deeper Sutton digs, the closer the truth cuts to home.

Haunted by his recent past, tested by a team he barely knows, and pushed to the brink by a superior who seems determined to undermine him, Sutton soon realises that, in a small town, secrets don't stay hidden for long.

In Blood Stepped Deep is the electrifying first book in the DI Dan Sutton crime thrillers series. Perfect for fans of David J Gatward, LJ Ross, JD Kirk, Wes Markin and Ann Cleeves.