'The Sleeping Nymph': a work of art of magnetic beauty, painted by a young partisan fighter during the last days of the Second World War. A painting carrying a shocking secret hidden in the red pigment on the canvas, made with the blood of a human heart. But whose heart? There is no body, no confession. Only that faint trace of blood. And that's what leads commissioner Teresa Battaglia - herself hiding an unspeakable truth - to the Resia Valley, in the north eastern part of Italy: a perfect genetic enclave protected for centuries from the outside world. The valley and the portrait are the only clues for a murder that occurred more than 70 years before. A red thread leading to the shadow of someone hell-bent on protecting a sacred secret.

A TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH ONE OF M. W. CRAVEN'S BOOKS OF 2019 A ruthless killer is spreading panic in a quiet village in the Italian Alps. Police Inspector Teresa Battaglia is the only one who can stop them. But how can you catch a monster when you're slowly losing your mind? PREPARE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH TERESA BATTAGLIA, A POLICE INSPECTOR LIKE NO OTHER: 'Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a criminal profile expert, is in her sixties, overweight, lonely, diabetic, full of the ailments of ageing - and delightful. It's rare that a character like Teresa Battaglia enters crime fiction for the first time, and with such gripping impact' Marcel Berlins, The Times (Crime Book of the Month) 'Teresa Battaglia is set to give tyneside's Vera a run for her money' Lancashire Post 'Teresa Battaglia is one of the most interesting detectives to emerge in recent years' M. W. Craven, author of The Puppet Show 'I was rooting for Teresa Battaglia from the start' Sarah Ward, author of In Bitter Chill 'I totally fell for the tough-but-vulnerable Teresa Battaglia' Roz Watkins, author of The Devil's Dice 'A brilliant protagonist, an eerie setting and a community hiding dark secrets' Dead Good (Debut crime novels to watch out for in 2019)

'The Sleeping Nymph': a work of art of magnetic beauty, painted by a young partisan fighter during the last days of the Second World War. A painting carrying a shocking secret hidden in the red pigment on the canvas, made with the blood of a human heart. But whose heart? There is no body, no confession. Only that faint trace of blood. And that's what leads commissioner Teresa Battaglia - herself hiding an unspeakable truth - to the Resia Valley, in the north eastern part of Italy: a perfect genetic enclave protected for centuries from the outside world. The valley and the portrait are the only clues for a murder that occurred more than 70 years before. A red thread leading to the shadow of someone hell-bent on protecting a sacred secret.