Long lives are being cut short in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.A retired teacher is found dead in her Somerset home on a cold January night. At first glance, it is a routine unexplained death and a simple referral to the coroner, until a neighbour reports an unscheduled visit from an occupational therapist an hour before the body was discovered.Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon is convinced the elderly woman has been strangled - a cause of death confirmed by the pathologist - and a murder investigation is launched.More victims are soon found - a second retired teacher who died in eerily similar circumstances in Devon. Then a possible third victim is exhumed in Dorset.Leading a regional task force, Dixon must find the connection between the victims. As the coincidences mount, he begins to fear he has stumbled on something premeditated and deeply sinister - a serial killer targeting the elderly in their own homes.