PERFECT FOR FANS OF SUSIE STEINER

You are a police officer. This is what you do. You speak for the dead, and the desperate living.

When Anna Cameron is promoted to Chief Inspector and moved to a new division, it should be a turning point for her. But if she thought having a female boss would make things easier, she'd reckoned without the fearsome 'JC' Hamilton.

Then, her mother goes into a coma in a foreign country and an old woman disappears from a Glasgow care home under suspicious circumstances, and Anna's career and personal life both threaten to implode. The gang-related murder of a young Asian boy and an assault on one of her officers only serve to turn the screws tighter - can Anna be both a good cop and a good person?

The explosive third novel from Karen Campbell, Gold Dagger-shortlisted author of AFTER THE FIRE and THE TWILIGHT TIME.

Praise for Karen Campbell

'Gritty as all hell, shot through with black humour and with enough pace and atmosphere to give the likes of Denise Mina a run for their money. All this and the chutzpah to create a seedy and unpleasant superintendent named Rankin!'

font size="+1">Mark Billingham

'The plot is wonderful, the characterisation of a family in crisis is both sharp and sympathetic, and the author does not shy away from examining the less palatable aspects of relations between the police and the public'

Guardian

'I loved it . . . Anna is a great, original character and Karen Campbell has a great way with images'

Kate Atkinson

'Karen Campbell deserves to be admitted to membership of what's becoming a very large club - Scottish crime writers of excellence . . . As to be expected from a former police officer, Campbell portrays her milieu with harsh authenticity, and Anna Cameron is wholly believable in her unheroic role. Glasgow and its citizens are described with vivid passion'

The Times