# The Cutting Stone

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-hilary/the-cutting-stone/9781787305410

![The Cutting Stone](https://quivercdn.com/covers/harvill-press/sarah-hilary/the-cutting-stone_978-17-8730-541-0-dad8ddda.jpg?v=2026-09-22%2002%3A32%3A18)

- Book: [The Cutting Stone](https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-hilary/the-cutting-stone) ([The Cutting Stone.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-hilary/the-cutting-stone.md))
- Authors: [Sarah Hilary](https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-hilary)
- Publisher: harvill_press
- ISBN: 978-17-8730-541-0
- Pages: 384
- Published: 2027-04-15
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Hardcover

## Description

A body buried between rock and ice, at a Peak District beauty spot, reveals a secret too close to home for Joe and Laurie in this second DS Joseph Ashe thriller. When a half-frozen body is found under the Bawd Stone, a local landmark linked with pagan ritual, DI Laurie Bower’s first call is to her best detective sergeant, Joseph Ashe. On leave after a traumatic case, Joe is still haunted by the tragedy he survived 17 years ago, when a school bus veered off the road and everyone drowned except him. Joe and Laurie join forces as this new case takes them back to her old stamping ground of inner-city Manchester. But when the body is identified as Godfrey Hulme, her dead sister’s counsellor, it quickly becomes a deeply personal murder investigation. The truth of what happened, in both the past and the present, will have devastating consequences for Laurie and Joe alike.