An Air That Kills

by Andrew Taylor Book 1 in the Lydmouth Crime series.

First published 1994

Amazon

3.7(3,514)

Workmen demolishing an old cottage in Lydmouth break through a concealed cupboard and find the skeleton of an infant inside a box. Objects buried with the remains appear to place the death in the early nineteenth century, but a second death suggests that the secret may be far more recent.

Newly arrived journalist Jill Francis sees the discovery as her first important local story, while Inspector Richard Thornhill confronts a town reluctant to expose its past. Their separate inquiries reveal how respectability and family silence can protect a crime across generations.