In a tarn in a country park in the heart of the Lancashire countryside lies the body of a young man. His death causes all sorts of problems for Detective Chief Inspector Alf Stone and his team because, according to the police pathologist, this his not the first time he has appeared on the autopsy slab. The investigation brings to light the ancient 'were' tradition of the county where witches became hares to escape the attention of the law. Now Mary Conway has chosen to learn the art of becoming a were herself for the sole purpose of halting the resurgence of the illegal so called 'sport' of hare coursing. But her intervention uncovers a far more sinister threat: camped not far from the country park are a group of renegade Romani, led by the wolf-witch Daciana Lupescu, who have fled the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania and plan to set up a colony on Wolf Fell not far from the country park.