<DIV>In the depths of his Cornish hideaway, retired Detective Inspector Frank Elder's solitary life is disturbed by a call from his ex-wife, telling him his seventeen-year-old daughter, Katherine, is running wild, unbalanced by the abduction and rape he feels he should have prevented. Meanwhile, in the heart of London, the takedown of a violent criminal goes badly, and Detective Sergeant Maddy Birch is uneasy about the reasons why, an uneasiness that is compounded when she starts to believe she is being stalked. </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>Maddy and Frank had a brief and clumsy encounter years before. In <I>Ash & Bone </I>their lives connect again when a second phone call persuades Elder out of retirement, only to find that a cold case has a devastating present-day impact. <BR><BR></DIV>