In the mist-shrouded fens of Little Hove, the river keeps its secrets—and sometimes it delivers them in the most brutal way. When the body of Lilly Miller, survivor of a notorious childhood abduction, is found in the murky waters she once claimed whispered to her, DCI Joline Norris is called in to investigate. Far from a quiet posting, the case drags her back into a world of haunted memories, unsolved crimes, and survivors scarred in ways that run deeper than the mud. Among them is Niamh Gibbs, Lilly’s only friend—and one of the Fens Five herself. But Niamh isn’t ready to confront the past, and the river is already claiming her peace. As the investigation unfolds, the lines between guilt, obsession, and the cold lure of the fens blur. Each clue, each whisper from the water, pulls them closer to a truth more terrifying than any they’ve faced before. In The Still Water Lies, secrets fester like silt in the depths, and some echoes from the past refuse to stay buried.

Legends say a dead god is buried under the stone city of Ishcairn, protecting its inhabitants by dashing enemy fleets into the jagged coast of Craeburn. Adjunct professor Corrie Ecksley doesn’t believe any of that, but she knows from her work excavating nearby burial sites that the ancient Craeburn people believed it enough to name the city after their dead god, Ish. When the ripples of a great war finally reach Craeburn’s shores, a terrifying new weapon is unleashed on the city that not even Ish can deter. A bomb that tears souls from bodies, driving anyone who witnessed the blast insane. But it is not the living that Corrie fears. Displaced spirits are hungry for a body, and care not if it already plays host to a soul. No bullets can stop them, no walls are thick enough to keep them out. No help is coming. No one left but Corrie to stop the carnage, if she even can.