‘One of Britain’s most consistently excellent crime novelists’ The Times ‘[Reginald Hill] keeps one on the edge of one’s wits throughout a bitterly enthralling detection thriller’ Sunday Times

Where better for a hitman to retire than in the Lake District, where the air is healthy and the scenery spectacular? And when Jaymith meets attractive young widow, Anya Wilson, he can’t believe his luck.

But Jaysmith soon discovers that settling down to the quiet life is not as easy as it seems. His old employers aren’t keen to lose him, his past is always lying in wait, and when Anya introduces him to her family, Jaysmith realizes there’s no way out.

He’s back in business, and it makes little difference that this time it’s to defend, not destroy. However you wrap it up, his one accessible talent is the Long Kill.