Damaged Goods (34 page)

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Authors: Helen Black

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Enjoyed
Damaged Goods?
Prepare to be terrified
all over again …

DARK ANGELS

Grace Monroe

How far would you go to protect your past? How much
further to protect someone else’s?

A celebrated Edinburgh lawyer is found murdered outside an infamous gay haunt and notorious dominatrix Kailash Coutts stands accused.

Against her wishes, headstrong, unorthodox brodie McClennan is appointed to defend Kailash under the watchful gaze of the ‘Dark Angels’, a violent street-gang led by the enigmatic Moses Tierney.

As the case becomes ever more complex, Brodie receives a chilling photograph, establishing a link to a number of brutal murders and a suspected paedophile ring. It becomes apparent that a serial killer is haunting the city – and that powerful people are involved, intent on covering up past crimes.

Brodie herself becomes a target – both for a depraved killer and for deadly forces in the highest of circles …

A shocking, atmospheric thriller that combines a centuries- old conspiracy with heart-stopping terror for fans of Ian Rankin and Mo Hayder …

ISBN: 978-1-84756-034-6

Acknowledgements

It’s a truism but true nonetheless that books are not the work of one person. So I’d like to thank the following for their help along the way.

First call must be to the Buckman Gang – Peter, Rosie and Jessica who plucked my tatty script out of the slush pile and were prepared to give it and me a chance. Then, of course, everyone at Avon for taking a punt on a first timer – particularly Max and Kesh for their humour and patience.

Thanks to Peter Marshall for friendship through the years and for advice on criminal procedure.

A big shout out to the members of HUG especially David Stacey and Michael Crawshaw – without your honest tongue lashings and generous encouragement I wouldn’t have finished this book.

Thanks is also due to the BW Mums whose ability to laugh at themselves made
Damaged Goods
much funnier than I could have done on my own.

Finally I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my family. My Dad for giving me my love of books. My Mum for assuming I would never be ordinary. My children for reminding me every day how lucky I am.

Then there’s Andrew. Husband, best friend. When I mentioned I might like to write a book you didn’t laugh. You bought me a laptop.

About the Author

DAMAGED GOODS

Helen Black was brought up in a mining town in West Yorkshire. She moved to London in her twenties and trained to be a commercial lawyer. On qualification she shifted lanes and has practised criminal and family law for over ten years. She specialises in representing children in the care system. She now lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and young children.
Damaged
Goods
is her debut novel. For more information on Helen, please visit her website at www.hblack.co.uk

Visit www.AuthorTracker.co.uk for exclusive updates on Helen Black.

AVON

A division of HarperCollins
Publishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Publishers
2008

Helen Black asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work

Extract from
A Place of Safety
© Helen Black 2008.
This is taken from uncorrected material and
does not necessarily reflect the finished book.

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.

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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

EPub Edition © JANUARY 2006 ISBN: 9780007281862