An audio book.
London 1970. Post-hippie, with decimalisation round the corner. Emilia finds a body - a young girl about her age - in a rubbish dump. As a consequence she meets a neighbour, Max, an accountant. They've been aware of each other for 2 years (she's been living there 7 years - a haven from her violent father). There's quite a lot about their growing relationship. Emilia works at a newspaper, selling ad-space. She's sent to the girl's family to get a story. Emilia's disappointing life has suddenly perked up - a boyfriend and better job prospects. And she has a friend Cat who works at Harrods as a buyer.
The victim Lucy was an exotic dancer - a nice girl. After 6 weeks there's another local murder of a young blonde. Again Emilia is sent to interview the mother. This time the victim was a waitress and exploiter. Emilia again empathises with the people involved.
Emilia is interested in solving the cases. Max seems the obvious suspect to me - he spends time away mysteriously.
A third beautiful girl is killed. Emilia interviews the father, Mr Lark, a rich industrialist, who tries to rape her. She's given police protection. She's discovered that the 3 dead girls knew each other as girl guides.
Max becoming controlling in several minor ways, and less thoughtful. When he comes back from a trip he starts hitting her, though he's been cold and calculating up to now. He's arrested as a suspect for the murders. His name isn't Max, nor is he an accountant.
One of the police bodyguards, Sam, likes her. A fellow journalist likes her. They like her powers of empathy. Yet she feels she was completely fooled by a person she'd been living with for months. She chats about this to Cat, who is tall (and presumably strong), not pretty, and whose family died in a fire when she was young. When Cat takes her to the secluded house, Emilia sees a knife and lead piping in her bag - the murder weapons. Emilia asks Cat if she's the killer. She says she's been a liar all her life - so much so that her parents had her fostered out. When was a guide the 3 other girls tormented her. In a tussle Emilia knifes Cat in self-defence. Cat escapes. Her real name is Hilary and she works at a newsagent. Emilia calls the police who collect her. It wouldn't surprise me if Emilia now becomes the prime suspect.
The police find incriminating evidence at Cat's. Max breaks into Emilia's flat and ties her up. Sam saves her. Maybe he's going to be the next liar/suspect. She gets a letter from Cat and sees her as she's dying from her wounds. She hands Emilia a confession. Sam and Emilia start living together. We get strong and gentle Sam's potted biography all over again. He persuades her to visit her family so she does. Her father's being dead 3 years, her sister's children are in care, her mother is still drunk and selfish. Emilia's happy - she can start a new life with Sam. She's got promoted. She's been praised for her writing so she's going to write a book about Cat.
"She said sadly" occurs several times.
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