When a friend’s husband is brutally murdered after threatening the existence of a much-loved monument, Thomas Rufford promises to find his real killer and avert a looming miscarriage of justice. But the widow is strangely obstructive, and Thomas’ search is forced in an unsavoury direction.

Meanwhile, Francesca Campbell has made a curious investment at the instigation of her mysterious new friend. After a second tragedy, Thomas must find whether the monument is at the heart of both deaths, together with unstoppable modernising forces, or whether the answers lie closer to home. But both his investigation and his own weaknesses threaten to destroy his reputation and future happiness.

The second in the Thomas Rufford Mysteries, The Train to Hawksbridge again travels to a Victorian town in northern England where respectability is no protection against the scourge of murder.