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We first met Jenny Cooper in [[The Coroner by M R Hall|The Coroner]] when she had just taken over as Coroner for Severn Valley. It's now some months later and whilst she's settled into the job to some extent her relationship with her officer, Alison , is still uneven and she's still shaky mentally and dependant on pills to a greater extent than she would care to admit. She's a feisty woman though and determined that she's going to do the job properly.
Seven years before two young students – Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan – had disappeared without trace. The police have told the parents that the boys had been under surveillance and that they have almost certainly left the country to fight alongside their 'brothers' in Afghanistan. It's all shrouded in mystery and secrecy but Nazim's mother is still grief-stricken and determined to get to the bottom of what has happened to her only child. She has him declared dead and then persuades Jenny Cooper to hold an inquest.