1 May 1976

Thirteen-year-old 'Minnie' Hargreaves is murdered, and her body half buried on a building site at the edge of Holme Hill, a village in West Yorkshire where she lived with her parents. David Harrison, a near-neighbour, is convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment. He dies in prison.

43 years later, Holme Hill becomes the scene of two more murders: Rhys Williams, a lonely old widower, found on a bench by the village cricket ground. A week later Peter Smith is found face down at the organ in Salem Chapel. Both corpses have a quotation from the Bible pinned to them, along with dates - the first two when Williams and Smith were murdered; the last two, dates in the future.

DCI Donald May heads the investigation. Born in Holme Hill his family worshipped at Salem. The murders seem inexplicable: two blameless old men; seemingly the same murderer. A darker past emerges as May, DS Viv Trubshaw and DC Charlie Riggs investigate. Then a third murder, as forecast.

May has seven days to the fourth. He discovers much more than just the murderer: all in one month; a month of murder.