Synopsis

In a tarn in a country park in the heart of the Lancashire countryside floats the murdered body of a young man. His death creates plenty of problems for Detective Chief Inspector Alf Stone because, according to the police   pathologist, this is not the first time he has appeared on the autopsy slab.

The investigation uncovers the age-old ‘were’ tradition of the county where witches were able to transform into hares to escape the law.

Urged on by three ancient deities, young witch Mary  Conway learns the art of the ‘were’ as part of their plan to bring to an end the resurgence of the illegal ‘sport’ of hare coursing once and for all.

But her intervention uncovers a far more sinister threat: camped not far from the park are a group of renegade Romani led by a wolf-witch. They have been forced to flee from the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania and now plan to set up a colony on Wolf Fell in the hills above the village of Chipping.