He loves to watch the flames. It's even better when the screaming starts.

Somebody is targeting police officers in the worst way imaginable—burning them alive in a series of large-scale arson attacks.

When DCI Jane Phillips and the Major Crimes Unit are assigned to the case, forensic evidence suggests the fires display the unique signature of Manchester's most prolific arsonist, Archie Pearson.

There's only one problem—Pearson has been in prison for almost twenty years.

As the team delve deeper, it becomes clear that the evidence used to convict Pearson two decades ago was deeply flawed. And Jane is finally forced to confront something she has feared for some time—corruption may run all the way to the top of the Force.

A fear that only grows when the killer goes viral, claiming Pearson was framed by bent cops and that he is Manchester's 'Real Fire Starter.'

Can Jane catch the killer before he chooses his next victim? And will she identify the senior officers who conspired to put an innocent man behind bars? Or is her beloved Major Crimes Unit about to be engulfed by a Deadly Inferno?