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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Copyright © Mel Sherratt 2019
Cover design © Henry Steadman 2019
Cover photographs © Henry Steadman 2019
Mel Sherratt asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008271077
Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008271084
Version: 2019-04-24
‘An absolute masterpiece. Twisty, turny and full of surprises!’
Angela Marsons
‘Mel Sherratt’s books are as smart and edgy as her heroines’
Cara Hunter
‘Mel Sherratt is the new queen of gritty police procedurals’
C.L. Taylor
‘Twists and turns and delivers a satisfying shot of tension’
Rachel Abbott
‘Heart-stoppingly tense. I love Mel Sherratt’s writing’
Angela Clarke
‘Gripped me from the first page and didn’t let go until the heart-stopping conclusion!’
Robert Bryndza
‘A writer to watch out for’
Mandasue Heller
‘[Allendale] is a welcome addition to the fast-growing band of impressive women detectives entering crime fiction’
The Times
‘On a thriller cocktail list, Hush Hush would be a Bloody Mary with a perfect twist’
Fiona Barton
‘I love all Mel Sherratt’s books’
Ian Rankin
‘Mel Sherratt is a unique voice in detective fiction’
Mail on Sunday
Melissa Wyatt ran along the lane, down towards the field she would cut across for the next part of her journey. She was in training for the London Marathon, only a few days away now. It was her first attempt, the furthest she’d ever run, but she knew she had the strength inside her to complete it.
She was now a firm believer that she could do anything once she put her mind to it. Even two years ago when she’d become a mum at thirty-one, she would never have thought it possible that she could run three miles, let alone twenty-six.
She’d started off slowly, a ruse to lose the baby fat. At first every session had been torture, but eventually her puffing and panting had ceased, and she’d begun to get into an even rhythm. It had only taken three months before she’d been hooked. Now there was no stopping her, because as well as keeping her fit, it had given her a new lease of life. It had lowered her stress levels, giving her a sense of peace.
When she was running, her mind could switch off from all the daily hassles. She could be herself again. Her son Joshua wouldn’t be throwing a tantrum because his TV programme had finished and there wasn’t time to watch another. Her husband Lloyd wouldn’t nag her because he couldn’t find something that he’d lost after putting it down somewhere ‘safe’. She wasn’t at the beck and call of staff and clients ready to interrupt her in a flash, unlike her day-to-day life as a customer services manager at the local building society. She was plain and simply Melissa.