Something In the Blood

In his youth, DS Roy Pilkington had been nicknamed "Winklepicker" Roy, because of his fondness for pointed Italian-leather shoes. Over the decades that followed, his taste for that particular type of footwear diminished and so did his nickname. Nowadays everyone just called him "Winkle".

Ten years a widower, estranged from his only daughter, Winkle only has his job left to keep him sane, even if they have taken him off the streets and consigned him to desk duties in a dusty basement. His life couldn't get any worse.

Then he is told he has to retire because of cutbacks.

Then he notices the blood in his urine.

Then his daughter becomes the victim of a serial killer.

Unable to be a part of the official investigation, Winkle determines to solve this one last case even if it kills him.

As the body count rises, the only clue lies in a police report about a Victorian murderer called Peter Cheshire and the only suspect seems to be a dead horror rocker called Barry Blood.

With time running out, Winkle has no choice but to rely on the mysterious Nosferatu society whose members believe the imbibing of human blood will make them virtually immortal. Dismissing their beliefs as nonsense, Winkle believes that one of their members may just be the murderer that the press have dubbed "The Slasher". It is a belief that will lead him to a final confrontation with an unhinged young man called Robbie Hutton, a confrontation that Winkle has no expectations of surviving.