An assassination in the night - an open window and three bullets from the darkness - the victim a harmless middle-aged woman. But can she be quite as innocent as she seems?

The death of Rose Shepherd swarms with questions - unlike the deaths of a woman and two children in a house fire.

A tragedy, yes, but an everyday one.

Then DS Fry discovers a link between the cases, a link that crosses the borders between nations, between right and wrong, between madness and sanity. She and DC Ben Cooper discover why some people are scared to live - and others are fated to die ...