A brilliant, thought-provoking and heart-wrenching new thriller about identity and the value of a life, from the award-winning author of The Long Drop and Conviction.

'This is crime writing of the highest order' The Times

**THE TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2020**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 COSTA NOVEL AWARD**

When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt, Nikki, instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found.

Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and haunting letters from the murderer, for decades. She is determined to find him, but she can't do it alone...

**A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020, SELECTED BY LEE CHILD**
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PRAISE FOR DENISE MINA-
'More proof that Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer' Sunday Express on The Less Dead
'Mina is the most compassionate of crime novelists... a dark and heartfelt novel' Mail on Sunday on The Less Dead
'Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions and never fails to deliver' Ian Rankin
'You won't be able to put Conviction down' Reese Witherspoon
'Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good' Daily Express on The Long Drop
'An atmospheric recreation of a vanished Glasgow...and a compelling exploration of the warped criminal mind' The Times on The Long Drop- Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade
'Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit' Sunday Times and International Bestselling Author, Karin Slaughter
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READERS LOVE THE LESS DEAD-
'One of the best books you'll read' *****
'Unputdownable' *****
'Gripping' *****
'An intelligent, gripping and compassionate crime novel' *****