The Craftsman

The Craftsman is book 1 in Sharon Bolton’s The Craftsmen series, first published in 2018. Florence Lovelady built her career on the case that made her name: thirty years earlier, as a young police officer in Lancashire, she helped convict coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook for the murders of several children who had been buried alive. Larry confessed and spent the rest of his life in prison, but the case never really left Florence alone. Now he is dead, Florence is a senior police officer, and new clues suggest the past may be different from what everyone believed.

When Florence’s own son goes missing in similar circumstances, she has to ask the worst question of all: did she catch the wrong man, or has someone been waiting all these years to start again?

Florence Lovelady’s career was made when she convicted coffin-maker Larry Grassbrook of a series of child murders 30 years ago in a small village in Lancashire. Like something out of a nightmare, the victims were buried alive. Florence was able to solve the mystery and get a confession out of Larry before more children were murdered, and he spent the rest of his life in prison.

But now, decades later, he’s dead, and events from the past start to repeat themselves. Is someone copying the original murders? Or did she get it wrong all those years ago? When her own son goes missing under similar circumstances, the case not only gets reopened… it gets personal.

Part of the The Craftsman series – see the full reading order on the Sharon Bolton Books in Order page.