Yet again, floods have played havoc with the Yorkshire countryside and when one river changes its course, a corpse comes to light. When DCI George Hennessey and DC Yellich get to it they discover that its head has been severed from the body. Well, there could be a whole load of reasons for that. But as the case progresses, there doesn't seem to be a good reason for it at all. Steeped in the history, manners and countryside of the North of England, this is an investigation that leads from dental records to a reading group and from DNA to losing the appetite for a pub lunch. It is an unbelievably strange tale that Peter Turnbull tells unnervingly believably.