The countryside keeps its secrets well.

When reporter Gareth Rhys is concerned over the discovery of an apparent suicide at a pheasant breeding centre, he looks into the case closer. A dead worker. A rural business. A community unwilling to talk. But as Gareth begins to investigate, he finds himself drawn into a hidden world operating behind the respectable image of the British countryside.

At the centre of the mystery is the lucrative pheasant breeding industry; sprawling hatcheries, isolated game farms, transport networks, and powerful estate owners supplying shoots across the country. To outsiders it is tradition. To Gareth, it quickly becomes clear that something far darker lies beneath the surface.

Workers are frightened. Records disappear. Inspectors are pressured to stay away. Rumours circulate about illegal labour, environmental dumping, intimidation, and organised criminal involvement hidden behind legitimate rural businesses. Every lead Gareth follows seems to end with another locked gate, another missing witness, or another warning to stop asking questions.

Then a second death changes everything.

As pressure grows from senior officers and influential figures with ties to the countryside industry, Gareth is forced to navigate a dangerous investigation where money and power reach deep into local communities. Alongside D.I. Sara Llewellyn and Border Force officer Bill Hatchett, he begins uncovering connections stretching far beyond South Wales.

But somebody is always one step ahead.

Evidence vanishes before it can be processed. Witnesses suddenly change their stories. Vehicles linked to the case are destroyed. And somewhere inside the investigation Gareth suspects there is a leak feeding information directly to the people he is trying to expose.

The deeper he digs, the more isolated he becomes.

Set against the haunting backdrop of the Welsh countryside, from windswept wetlands and abandoned farm buildings to exclusive shooting estates hidden behind locked gates, The Price of the Poults is a tense and atmospheric crime thriller exploring corruption, exploitation, and the hidden cost of rural power.

Perfect for fans of gritty British crime fiction, this latest Gareth Rhys investigation combines sharp detail with dark realism and relentless suspense. Readers of Ann Cleeves, Peter James, JD Kirk, Simon McCleave, and LJ Ross will find themselves immersed in a world where appearances deceive and danger hides in the most unexpected places.

Because in the countryside, silence can be bought.

And some secrets are worth killing for.

The Price of the Poults is the gripping fifth novel in the Gareth Rhys series by Kevin Heath.