Skin Privilege

Lena Adams has spent her life struggling to forget her childhood in Reece, the small town which nearly destroyed her. She's made a new life for herself as a police detective in Heartsdale, a hundred miles away - but nothing could prepare her for the violence which explodes when she is forced to return. A vicious murder leaves a young woman incinerated beyond recognition. And Lena is the only suspect. When Heartsdale police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, Lena's boss, receives word that his detective has been arrested, he has no choice but to go to Lena's aid - taking with him his wife, medical examiner Sara Linton. But soon after their arrival, a second victim is found. The town closes ranks. And both Jeffrey and Sara find themselves entangled in a horrifying underground world of bigotry and rage - a violent world which shocks even them. But can they discover the truth before the killer strikes again? 'No one does American small-town evil more chillingly ... Slaughter tells a dark story that grips and doesn't let go' The Times 'Thoroughly gripping' Daily Mirror 'Beautifully paced, appropriately grisly, and terrifyingly plausible' Time Out Fiction www.rbooks.co.uk www.karinslaughter.com