Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton hasn't had a holiday in six months. Hoping to get him out of his workaholic rut, his Chief assigns him a more laid back case: providing security for US Vice-President Hartley on his trip to the UK.
Coming over to do some sleuthing on his family history, Pemberton gets the jump on Hartley and engages in some reconnaissance before the VP's arrival. What he finds is far from just prosperous family trees in sleepy English villages - he stumbles across a strange death in the family dating back to 1916.
It seems Private James Hartley was found dead with a bullet in his brain. But was it murder or suicide? The more Pemberton investigates, the more he is convinced something horrible took place. Could the Hartley family have been involved?
Desperate to solve this cold case, will Pemberton be able to uncover enough clues to solve this ninety-year-old mystery? Or will these dark family secrets remain hidden?

Family Ties was first published in 1994 and was written by the best-selling author behind the beloved Heartbeat TV series.