The sixth book in the Trish Maguire series by Natasha Cooper

Why did investigative journalist Jamie Maxden have to die? Did someone need to stop him revealing the scandalous secrets of the food industry? In the sixth Trish Maguire novel, the coroner says Jamie's death was suicide. His family agree. The case is closed. Only one man fights to re-open it, but he's known as a conspiracy theorist and he can't make anyone believe him until he turns to Trish. Felled by food poisoning in the middle of a big trial, she is ready to believe almost any story about the adulteration of meat on sale in London. Even though she has more than enough to do with her work as a barrister, the fight to protect a child in terrible danger, and plenty of emotional complications of her own, she agrees to help. The investigation takes her deep into the countryside, showing that cruelty and intimidation can flourish in a ravishing landscape just as they do in the grimmest of inner-city housing estates. Moving between the two, trying to save lives and sanity, inexhaustible Trish is driven into a crusade that combines excitement, drama and agonising human tragedy.

I'm delighted that Trish Maguire will be available to readers again, I'm a great fan. Natasha Cooper is a compelling crime-writer; her stories always start with an intriguing premise and lead us through to a satisfying conclusion. But she's more than an assured story-teller. Cooper is fascinated by the nature of evil and each story is a contemporary fable, exploring the roots and the consequences of violence.