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)