Susan

"I'll tell you something, something important. Love is a decision. Not a feeling. That's what you young people don't realise. That's why you're always off divorcing each other. No offence, dear." So decrees the formidable Connie Thrum of Scribbly Gum Island. She is the chief decision-maker of a rather unconventional family and her word is law. It's been over seventy years since Connie and her sister Rose visited their neighbours and found the kettle boiling and a baby waking for her feed, but no sign of her parents.

Andy Dalziel of the Mid-Yorks CID has witnessed a murder, but it was though dark glass and he was being sick at the time. Now he finds the case shrouded in uncertainty and a string of contradictory statements. And who is his anonymous letter writer threatening suicide? Meanwhile Dalziel's colleague, Peter Pascoe, has returned from a long convalescence uncertain about his job, his marriage, or his motivations whilst having to act as a moderator to the strong-willed Dalziel.

For years, the Stranger House has stood in the village of Illthwaite, offering refuge to travellers. People like Sam, a brilliant young mathematician, who believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining. And Miguel, a historian running from a priests' seminary, who sees ghosts. Sam is an experienced young woman, Miguel a 26-year-old virgin.