Max Fournier is rich, handsome, charismatic and dead. They found him lying bleeding, castrated and humiliated under the inert body of his mother. A designer death, a bizarre tableau for a man whose life was an excess of wealth, cruelty and depravity. But would the secret that led to this human sculpture die with him or would it remain and continue to destroy more lives. DI Dallas Munro and her enigmatic lodger Dino Marshall working together might just discover the truth but is it a truth best left buried?

David Cooke was born and lives in the north of England. He is the author of Aftermath described by best selling author Quintin Jardine as 'a cracking first novel.' He has written and produced a number of award winning musical plays and has created a podcast of short stories under the title KwerkyStory. His article Pushing Louie won the BBC 4 Guardian Feature Writing competition