Dying Fall — Patricia Hall

An oppressive heat wave has blanketed Bradfield, Yorkshire, sharpening tensions in the crime-ridden council estate known as the Heights. The latest grievance is the nightly joy-riding of youths racing stolen cars around the residential streets. Next, reports surface of children being assaulted, and Inspector Michael Thackeray sends in an undercover police officer. A young girl is killed, though, and the residents' unease turns to anger.
Covering the situation in the Heights, reporter Laura Ackroyd notices similarities between the current death and one that occurred ten years earlier. She's been researching the case of Stephen Webster, found guilty of murdering his step-sister, for a television program reexamining the crime. Stephen Webster has already been in jail for a decade, however. Could he have been innocent all those years ago, or is someone playing a twisted game of copycat?
Working from different sides of the case, Ackroyd and Thackeray face deceit, fraud, and torn loyalties while exploring their growing attraction to each other in this mystery of dazzling ingenuity and suspense.