The No. 1 bestseller! The deliciously sinister new novel from the No. 1 bestselling author of the Richard and Judy Book Club selection, Lying in Wait.

"I could probably have become an actress. It's not difficult to pretend to be someone else. Isn't that what I've done most of my life?"

Cordelia Russell has been living on the French Riviera for twenty-five years, posing as an English socialite. But her luck and the kindness of strangers have run out. The arrival of a visitor from her distant past shocks Cordelia. She reacts violently to the disturbance and flees her apartment to spend a drunken night at a glamorous party. As dawn breaks, she stumbles through the back alleys on her way home. Even before she opens her door, she can hear the flies buzzing. She hadn't expected the corpse inside to start decomposing so quickly.

"Absolutely brilliant!" - Denise Mina. "The finest psychological thriller.".