The US Drug Enforcement Agency is desperate to capture Mario Ruggerio, the would-be leader of the Sicilian Mafia and the mastermind behind a multi-billion dollar international drugs trade.

Charlotte Parsons, a young English schoolteacher, was the Ruggerio family's nanny four years ago. When she is asked to take up her old job she is excited at the prospect of leaving behind a sleepy Devon village. But Charley doesn't realise that she is the live bait in an American trap, and that she jas just entered the killing ground . . .

WITH AN EXCLUSIVE NEW FOREWORD BY JOHN FOLLAIN