The Dead Hand of History

Meet Monika Paniatowski, an ambitious new DCI with everything to prove — and everything to lose. Two severed hands. One newly promoted detective with her hands full. Monika Paniatowski can’t wait to land her first case as detective chief inspector. And, as it turns out, she won’t have to. On her first day, a woman’s severed hand is found in a leafy park. Monika races to the scene, determined to stay one step ahead of the gutter press. They don’t like women, and they don’t like Poles, and it’s no secret they don’t think Monika is up to the job. All the evidence points to Stan Szymborska, the victim’s downtrodden husband. He shares Monika’s heritage, and rumour has it, he had every reason to want his wife dead. But Monika’s not so sure. Something tells her there’s more to this case than meets the eye. She wants to trust her instincts. But is the powerful chemistry between her and the prime suspect leading her off track? The clock is ticking to catch a ruthless killer . . . Then a second severed hand is delivered straight to the newspaper. Discover a brilliantly twisty mystery series set in the 1970s — when it was tough to be a woman in a man’s world.