Dead Before Morning — Geraldine Evans

In this brilliant crime-fiction debut, Geraldine Evans introduces an offbeat police duo in Inspector Rafferty and Sergeant Llewellyn. Inspector Joseph Rafferty is under pressure. The naked body of a teenage girl has been found on the grounds of Elmhurst, a private psychiatric hospital, and with the help of upright Sergeant Dafyd Llewellyn, Rafferty must track down the killer. His task is complicated, however, because the victim's face has been mutilated beyond recognition, and Elmhurst's owner, suave social climber Dr. Melville-Briggs, claims he has no idea who the girl might be. Between Rafferty's mother's constant matchmaking ambitions, the media's unrelenting attention, and a heated power struggle between snobby Melville-Briggs and working-class Llewellyn, Rafferty's first case since his promotion is not going to be an easy one. His growing dislike of the arrogant doctor quickly turns into an obsessive desire to prove Dr. Melville-Briggs guilty of murder, despite his seemingly solid alibi. But when the identity of the girl is discovered at last, a host of new suspects emerges, and Rafferty and Llewellyn, in the full glare of the media, must hustle to dissect motives and to uncover the true murderer. Fast-paced, keenly written, and thoroughly engaging, Dead Before Morning marks the impressive debut of talented newcomer Geraldine Evans.