Oulton Flax with a thrifty population of three hundred and fifty nine is situated some fifteen miles from the nearest town. It's a place where the inhabitants consist of middle-aged parents and retirees who have spent decades within the village or those returning to take over a family residence when a parent passed away and occasionally it suits those wishing to disappear from a previous life. Marjory Sharp is a blackmailer and a woman with a past she would sooner remain buried. Having reinvented herself over more than two decades and now living in this small village, her foremost occupation is the collecting of secrets and using them to live above her means. Unscrupulous in how information is acquired, her part-time employment as receptionist in the local GP's surgery provides an ideal opportunity to sift through patient files. Marjory enjoys the power she holds over victims, almost as much as the pleasure in the arrival of those small envelopes received regularly in payment for her silence. However, reputations matter and there are just some secrets that have to remain untold. When one of her 'investors' commits suicide, unexpected consequences arise as heirs to the estate take up residence in the village. Uncannily the past comes back to haunt Marjory and suddenly that life so carefully created begins to unravel, proving there are always consequences when people are pushed too far and payback can be a bitch.
