Greater Evil

Cecilia Mayford has it all: her career is successful; her husband is an internationally renowned sculptor; and their baby is due in less than a month. But everywhere she goes, she finds people who are linked to her in the strangest ways. She feels trapped, haunted. Then one morning she is attacked in her husband’s studio, so badly beaten that her baby is rescued by Caesarean section only moments before she dies.

Her dangerously vulnerable husband, Sam, was recorded on CCTV entering the building at the crucial time. The police pick him up at once. In his terror and misery he turns to barrister Trish Maguire, who has her own links to both him and Cecilia. Fighting her grief, her pity for Sam – and her suspicion – Trish finds herself in conflict with DCI Caro Lyalt, her greatest friend and the senior investigating officer on the case.

Evidence against Sam mounts up. Cecilia’s powerful mother is pressing for his arrest. The police hierarchy want him charged. If Trish is to save his sanity, she must find out exactly what happened in the studio that morning, and time is running out…

REVIEWS

‘Cooper is expert at detailing the effects of emotional crossfire. She turns her penetrating but compassionate gaze on the duties of parents…and on the complexity of loyalty and trust’ Guardian

‘Natasha Copper is something of a rarity among crime writers these days. She is interested in the psychology of her characters…she is concerned with issues of social justice, but always as part of her plot-driven credentials; she concentrates on depicting a world most of her readers will be familiar with, instead of producing s tourist murder tour. And, rarest of all, perhaps, she can write.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘Beautifully written, intelligent and pacy and it deserves to be her “breakthrough” book. It really is time for her to jump up to the next league and this is, without doubt, the book to do it with.’ The Bookseller

‘Good crime novels with a legal setting are surprisingly rare, and Cooper’s series of novels, based on the experiences of barrister Trish Maguire, are therefore more than welcome. Her creation of plots and counter-plots, character and locale are imminently satisfying, Maguire’s adventures are always eagerly awaited; an excellent series.’ Publishing News

‘You know when you pick up a book by Natasha Cooper that you are going to find a literate, intelligent novel about real people, without the artificially contrived excitement found in some of those novels that are advertised as bestsellers even before publication. That’s not to say that her plots lack suspense: A Greater Evil is a complex and satisfying mystery.’ Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph

‘Cooper is a first-class crime novelist. The narrative of this powerful and densely plotted novel is driven by her sense of injustice, and by her empathy for the vulnerable who so often become victims.’ The Spectator

‘A suspenseful, angst-ridden page-turner.’ Kirkus

‘The blustery depictions of wintertime London and heartbreaking domestic strife will still leave readers shivering and glad for another one of Cooper’s trademark warm and happy endings.’ Publishers Weekly

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