First in the Francesca Wilson series

For years the trim, methodical Francesca Wilson has served as her family’s organizing principle, ruthlessly marshaling her artistic, charmingly irresponsible brothers into something resembling regulated lives. As a civil servant, she does the same thing for the country–marching into England’s haphazardly run companies and bringing order to decades of financial chaos.

But lately, Francesca seems almost to be attracting catastrophe, rather than damping it down. An executive at one of her client-companies has been brutally murdered, just steps from Francesca’s tidy London flat. One brother has become an overnight pop-star, with the attendant media circus, disastrous women, and newly acquired bad habits. And even Scotland Yard’s assistance is not without a price-tag.

“Outstandingly good”

– Times Literary Supplement (UK)

Winner of Britain’s CWA Creasey award for Best Debut Crime Novel of the Year