The eminent defence lawyer Sir John Hathaway has decided to retire after the successful conclusion of his most high profile case to date. Newsreader Devon Bliss was murdered in the prime of her life; it was a crime that shocked the nation. Despite the police and the tabloid press' conviction that loner Graham Scobie was the guilty party, Hathaway persuades the court that the evidence is purely circumstantial and Scobie walks away from the trial a free man. His career behind him, Hathaway and his family settle in the small village of Lambourn near Newbury. Soon the family becomes the target of vandalism and Sir John starts receiving death threats, so DI Gregory Summers is called in to investigate. He discovers that Scobie has also recently moved to the area, but would he really threaten the man who saved him from prison? And why is the infamous tabloid journalist Reuben ap Morgan sniffing around the area? The latest in a series featuring Newbury CID's Gregory Summers, Cold Blood is a fascinating exploration of justice, punishment and redemption.