The Level

Detective Sergeant Nancy Devlin is a good cop with a dark secret - a loyalty to haulier and drugs trafficker Frank Le Saux, to whom she has been close since childhood.

When a clandestine meeting ends in murder and Nancy is caught in the cross fire, her link to Frank suddenly risks being exposed. Nursing a bullet wound and desperate to cover her tracks, Nancy finds herself having to tread a very dangerous line when she's seconded to the murder investigation in Brighton, her home town.

Here, Nancy can't escape her past, in the shape of ex-cop father Gil Devlin and childhood best friend, Hayley, Frank's daughter. Like Nancy, Hayley is newly returned to Brighton and already asking her mother, Cherie Le Saux difficult questions about the family business. Potential allies in adversity, Nancy and Hayley try to rekindle their friendship but Nancy's guilty secret casts a long shadow.

Nancy must track down the killer while all the time concealing her own role from her new colleagues – among them the enigmatic DS Gunner Martin and eagle-eyed boss DCI Michelle Newman – as well as an old friend from London, DS Kevin O'Dowd. O'Dowd has always carried a torch for Nancy, but she can't afford to let him get too close.

Nancy's mission is suddenly made more dangerous when crime scene forensics reveal an unidentified missing witness. Now both the police and the killer are on the hunt. Can she hide in plain sight?

The investigation leads Nancy to pursue a corrupt customs officer, Delia Bradley. But when Delia is attacked and a vital piece of evidence goes missing, Nancy realises with horror that the killer is very close - and getting help from inside the police. . .