Gallows drop, paperback/mari hannah

Gallows Drop is Maria Hannahs sixth gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels.

At dawn on a lonely stretch of road, a body is found hanging from an ancient gallows the morning after a country show.

Hours earlier, DCI Kate Daniels had seen the victim alive.

With her leave period imminent, shes forced to step aside when DCI James Atkins is called in to investigate.

Theres bad blood between them.

When Kate discovers that Atkins daughter was an eyewitness to a fight involving the victim, the two detectives lock horns and hes bumped off the case.

Its the trigger for a vicious attack on Kate, exposing a secret shes kept hidden for years and unearthing an even darker one.

Shaken but undeterred, Kate sets out to solve a case that has shocked a close-knit village community.

As suspects emerge, she uncovers a curious historical connection with a hangman, a culture of systematic bullying, a web of deceit and a deep-seated psychosis, any one of which could be motive for murder.