Murder in the Ascendant

Eighteen months ago, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Langton arrived on the scene in Abbottsford, right in the middle of a murder investigation. Since then, life has settled down nicely for him and his wife and young son. But memories of his time at the Met are about to be triggered as he becomes involved in the unsolved disappearance of a young woman nearly sixteen years ago. Could a cult be involved? As the details of her abduction and murder come to light, a systematic pattern of abuse of other victims by members of the mysterious Scorpion Club is slowly revealed. Langton is faced with the formidable task of identifying those who raped and murdered victims chosen purely for their star signs. But after sixteen years, and with the main suspects either missing or presumed dead, how is he to go about the task? Drawing on his experience with the Met, he enlists the help of a psychic, and finds that he is now in the position of not only having to defend his own intuition, but hers too. The sequel to Death is a Member, Murder in the Ascendant is a well-crafted detective story that never rushes in its satisfying dissection of the dark side of human nature.