Welcome to the world of D.C. Fiona Griffiths. This new pacey, compelling series, set in Cardiff, is told purely from the point of view of Fiona – seriously good detective but with a shed load of issues and haunted by her own dark past. In this opening book a brutal murder of a mother and child, that on the surface looks like an open and shut case, leads to a much darker mystery. We know Harry has already written more in this series which we can’t wait to read when they are published.
For rookie detective constable Fiona Griffiths, her first major investigation promises to be a tough initiation into Cardiff's dark underbelly. A young woman and her six-year-old daughter have been found brutally murdered in a squalid flat, the single clue a platinum credit card belonging to a millionaire businessman who died in a plane crash six months before. For her fellow cops, it's just another case of a low-rent prostitute meeting the wrong kind of client and coming to a nasty end, but Fiona is convinced that the tragic lives and cruel deaths of this mother and daughter are part of a deeper, darker mystery. Fiona, however, has secrets of her own. She is still recovering from a crushing psychological breakdown, and the feelings which haunt her are constantly threatening to undermine the mask of normality she has learned to wear. As she begins to piece together a bizarre and terrifying conspiracy, Fiona finds that what makes her vulnerable also gives her a unique insight into the secrets of the dead, and in solving the murders of Janet and April Mancini she can begin to start solving the riddles of her own past.
Harry Bingham is a successful author as well as running The Writers' Workshop, an editorial consultancy for first-time writers, and organising the York Festival of Writing. He lives near Oxford.
