Adam and Dan are hunting a psychopath, a once brilliant man, demented by memories of war and the death of his best friend. And utterly bent on teaching society a lesson …

A masked man breaks into women’s homes, never speaking and stealing nothing of value, only a document bearing their name. Soon, he leaves behind a sinister note, boasting of plans to commit a great crime; a crime that will shock the country.

A police marksman kills two men in separate but frighteningly similar shootings. But is it murder?

Another woman is attacked, another document taken, another note left. It claims each contains a code revealing the ‘great crime’. And it’s growing closer, hour by passing hour.

Why does the attacker steal only documents with women’s names on? How to solve the riddle contained in the notes? Time is running out. As each riddle is cracked, the man is always one step ahead of the police – until the increasingly desperate search converges on Dartmoor …

Simon Hall is the BBC Crime Correspondent for the Devon and Cornwall area. Evil Valley is the third novel in his TV Detective series, following the highly successful The Death Pictures. Simon is 38 years old and lives with his wife in Plymouth.

The Balance of Guilt