DS Washington Poe is puzzled when he's called to a Carlisle backstreet brothel for a murder investigation: He usually hunts serial killers—here, it seems a dispute with a pimp escalated. Oddly, a small ceramic rat figurine is missing, and someone on the investigative team must be the thief, because the figurine is clearly visible in a crime scene photograph. Poe's teammate, the brilliant analyst Tilly Bradshaw, recalls an unsolved bank robbery from several years ago in which nothing was stolen, but a ceramic rat figurine was left in front of the vault. Why? And who is behind it? As Poe and Tilly Bradshaw delve deeper into the investigation, the case becomes increasingly complex, and suddenly MI5 is also involved... Award-winning cult crime novel from England 'The Widow' was awarded the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger as the best thriller of the year. In Germany, M.W. Craven's intelligent crime novels, which combine intricate cases with dark humor, have topped the SPIEGEL bestseller list. New product