“The most exciting crime writer to have emerged in Britain for years.” —IAN RANKIN

August 31, 1997.

Rose Wilson is fourteen but looks sixteen. Pimped out by her “boyfriend” and let down by a person she thought she loved, she has seen more darkness in life than someone twice her age. On the night of Princess Diana’s death—a night everyone will remember—Rose snaps and commits two terrible crimes. Her life seems effectively over. But then a sympathetic defence lawyer sets out to do what he can to save her, regardless of the consequences.

Now.

Detective Inspector Alex Morrow is a witness in the case of Michael Brown, a vicious arms dealer, more brutal and damaged than most of the criminals she meets. During the trial, while he is in police custody, Brown’s fingerprints are found at the scene of a murder in the Red Road flats. It is impossible that he could have been there, and it’s a mystery that Morrow just can’t let go.