The first book in the Jasmine Sharp series, from author Christopher Brookmyre.

A 'tense, moving, and gloriously twisted' (Mark Billingham) top ten Sunday Times bestseller from the award-winning author of Quite Ugly One Morning

Detective Catherine McLeod was always taught that in Glasgow, they don't do whodunit. They do score-settling, vendettas and petty revenge. And however she looks at it, the discovery of a dead drug-dealer in a back alley means she's going to be busy.

Meanwhile, aspiring actress Jasmine Sharp is reluctantly - and incompetently - working for her uncle Jim's private investigation business. When Jim goes missing, Jasmine has to take on the investigator mantle for real, and her only lead points to a professional assassin who has been dead for twenty years. Soon Jasmine stumbles into a web of corruption and secrets that leaves her running for her life.

'[A] smartly written mainstream detective story . . . Brookymre deftly twists one case around the other' Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review**

'A brainy, barbed noir, this book takes its time setting the scene and establishing its characters. Most of its violence occurs off the page. But with its contrasting characters . . . and skillfully orchestrated sense of bad things to come, the novel maintains a solid grip on the reader. Brookmyre isn't as well-known in the States as fellow Scottish mystery writers Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Denise Mina, but this first-rate effort may change that' Kirkus Reviews (starred review)