The Dead of Winter

THE DEAD OF WINTER is the third in the the John Madden series.  The first novel, River of Darkness took place in England just after World War I.

DEAD OF WINTER is set in London in 1944 when a young Polish woman is garroted on a darkened city street. She is on her way to visit her aunt. Police begin investigating. John Madden, recently retired from the police force becomes involved because the young woman was living and working on his farm.

The young woman was universally liked and no one can figure out a motive for her death. She wasn’t robbed, she wasn’t sexually assaulted.  The case becomes more complex when a prostitute who saw the girl tells the police she thought a man was following her.  The prostitute is later found murdered in the same manner.