When social worker Kara Huggate fails to turn up at court as star witness for a crucial case, barrister Trish Maguire knows something is very wrong. And sure enough, the police are waiting for her in chambers with news that Kara has been brutally murdered. In an ironic twist of fate, Trish receives a letter from Kara, posted the night of her death, asking for her help over the unfair dismissal of a colleague. Unable to refuse such a request, Trish decides to meet Kara’s colleague, Blair Collons. However, discovering how paranoid and obsessive he is, she cannot believe his story – or understand why Kara cared so much about him. But with the memory of Kara’s compassion fresh in her mind, Trish finds herself sucked into Blair’s unhappy story, with potentially devastating consequences…

‘A tense and eerily topical story of character vulnerability and pain’ She

‘Natasha Cooper is a fiercely intelligent writer with a hotline to the darker side of modern life.’ Crime Time

‘Cooper breaks new ground with a new heroine, Barrister Trish Maguire in Fault Lines, and brings a jaundiced attitude to the prevalence of corruption at the heart of local government.’ Time Out

“An involving and intelligent writer” Times Literary Supplement