‘Exciting, ingenious, roundly satisfying’ – Literary Review Ten days to Christmas. Tracey Uphill, aged eight, hasn't come home from Sunday school. Her mother, a pretty young prostitute, is desperate. Enter Detective Inspector Jack Frost, sloppy, scruffy and insubordinate. He's been assigned a new sidekick, the Chief Constable's nephew Detective Constable Clive Barnard. Fresh to provincial Denton in an oversmart suit, Barnard is an easy target for Frost's withering satire. Assisted and annoyed by Barnard, Frost, complete with a store of tasteless anecdotes to fit every occasion, proceeds with the investigation in typically unorthodox style. After consulting a local witch, Frost finds himself drawn into an unsolved crime from the past. He's risking not only his career, but also his life...