The baby stirred in his blanket as the girl held him tightly to her chest; goosebumps covered her arms. Her bare feet were frozen by the icy stone beneath them, and as she inched slowly along the roof’s balcony, her body shook with fear. She wouldn’t let them take her precious boy.

When the broken body of a seventy-one-year-old woman is found beneath the Humber Bridge, a sign around her neck with the words ‘Pure Evil’ spray-painted in red, Detective Hollie Turner can’t help but wonder – who would want this frail elderly woman dead?

As she starts to delve into the victim’s personal life, Hollie discovers that the woman, Sister Brennan, ran a local mother and baby home at the Church of St Mary and the Angels. The unit may have shut down years ago, but the pain and anguish of those who were forced to give up their babies remains.

The case hits an emotional nerve for Hollie, who was barely twenty when she became a mother and is currently picking up the pieces of her broken marriage and shattered home life.

Determined to uncover the secrets in the home’s dark past, Hollie finds an old photograph of four girls who were there at the same time. Each had their babies taken from them; each has their own harrowing story to tell.

But just as Hollie is beginning to crack the case and link vital clues to Sister Brennan’s murder, an elderly priest is attacked and left for dead in his home. Facing her most complex investigation yet – one steeped in decades of betrayal – can Hollie find the killer before they strike again?

The Fallen Girls is the first in an electrifying new crime-thriller series, introducing Detective Hollie Turner – perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, J M Dalgliesh and Robert Dugoni. The next books in this binge-worthy investigation – Her Last Cry and The Fifth Girl&ndash are available to read now!

Paul Teague

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