The Dale of Despair

Luke Tremayne, Cromwell's most trusted agent adjusts to life changing events. Cromwell is dead, and the army which kept England united is disintegrating. Luke resigns from government service, marries a vivacious widow, takes up a vast estate in Yorkshire, and is appointed a local magistrate. He is immediately confronted with the disappearance of his steward and becomes obsessed with two cold cases- a child murder and arson. Other murders follow and the activities of a likeable criminal, a pagan cult, a powerful witch and the possibility of a royalist uprising complicate his magisterial investigations.