This is the sequel to The Malvern Murders (Amazon.com US || UK) available from another publisher, and at times reading it without having read the earlier one is difficult.  So much of the background relates to earlier events that I would strongly advise any would-be readers to seek out the first book before tackling this one.  Tombs sketches in a convincing picture of a sleepy rural town and the world-within-a-world of the cathedral, where some old sins cast some very long shadows.  The plot of the Worcester mysteries is enough for the book, so the Whitechapel part with the woman in black seems somewhat superfluous, and detracts from the main story.  However, this is obviously a thread running through the series and will presumably come to a head in a later book so it will be interesting to see what happens next.