She’s a single parent. A private eye. And liking it. Until, that is, Mrs Hobbs turns up asking Sal Kilkenny to find her missing son.Sal’s search takes her through the Manchester underworld, a wasteland of deprivation and petty theft, of well-heeled organised crime and, ultimately, murder. Would she have taken the job on if she had known what she was getting herself into?

Actually, yes. Sal is on fire with a desire to see justice done and to avenge the death of a young lad whose only crime was knowing too much…

This is the first Sal Kilkenny mystery, serialised on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

Praise for Cath Staincliffe:

‘A book about courage and compromise, about how sometimes it’s kinder and braver to lie.Stunning.’

Anne Cleeves

‘Modest, compassionate… a solid ingenious plotter with a sharp eye for domestic detail'Literary Review

'Complex and satisfying’ The Sunday Times

‘about as good as the British private eye novel gets’ Time Out

‘It’s always exciting to see a writer get better and better, and Cath Staincliffe is doing just that'Val McDermid

'an engrossing read'Sunday Telegraph