Banktoun

When Gareth Maloney walks into Jo's bookshop in the sleepy Scottish town of Banktoun, the life she thought she'd rebuilt starts to unravel. Because Jo recognises this man. The man who attacked her and her friend Claire, all those years ago, leaving Claire paralysed, and Jo tortured by the memories, unable to forgive herself for what happened. A desperate Jo turns to her friend, local policeman, Sergeant Davie Gray. The man she met after the attack. The kind, caring man who had vowed to look out for her since her mother's death. But he doesn't believe her.

Marie likes her life small and predictable: pulling pints, swapping banter with regulars, going home alone. Until Sergeant Davie Gray. He’s steady and decent – the sort of man you let yourself believe in. For the first time in a long time, Marie thinks she might actually be safe.

When teenager Katie is found dead in her own bed, Banktoun does what small towns do best—it panics. Grief curdles into suspicion, rumours harden into certainty and one question drowns out all others—did her teacher do it? School counsellor Polly McAllister arrives back in town carrying more baggage than she admits. Old loyalties. Old mistakes. While DS Davie Gray and DC Louise Jennings work the official investigation, Polly is sent into the classrooms, listening to frightened children, guarded siblings, and friends who know far more than they’re saying.