Detective Emmanuel Cooper returns to solve a darkly romantic mystery in this rich and complex novel by Malla Nunn, author of Let the Dead Lie and A Beautiful Place to Die.

Emmanuel Cooper's life is finally back on track when a request comes from Colonel van Niekerk that he report to the local police station in Balgowan, a small trading post in the Natal Midlands. When Cooper arrives, he learns of the disappearance of an adolescent Zulu girl in the wild foothills of the Drakensberg - and the local police are reluctant to search for her.

Sensing that something terrible has happened out on Little Flint Farm, Cooper plunges into the class driven life of transplanted English aristocrats and the traditional world of the old Zulu chiefs. He must break the silence of the opposing communities and dig through their buried secrets to find out what happened to the girl, and why.no matter the cost.