Everyone is hooked on something.
It's not that easy to kick the money habit. After the world meltdown forces London's bankers to go cold turkey, people look elsewhere for a quick quid: the old fashioned East End.
So when investigator Catherine Berlin gets an anonymous tip-off about a local loan shark, the case seems straightforward – until her informant is found floating in the Limehouse Basin.
In another part of town, a notorious doctor is murdered in his surgery, and his entire stock of pharmaceutical heroin stolen. An unorthodox copper is assigned to the case, and Berlin finds herself a reluctant collaborator in a murder investigation.
Now Berlin has seven days to find out who killed her informant, why the police are hounding her and, most urgently of all, where to find a new – and legal – supply of the drug she can't survive without.
Smart, stylish and fast-paced, In Her Blood heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent in crime fiction.
'[Hauxwell's] growing army of fans may have to start learning how to manage an addiction of sorts.' West Australian
'Complex, fast-paced crime fiction.' Courier-Mail
'A stylishly written and assuredly paced debut that heralds a promising new series.' Financial Times (UK)
'Annie Hauxwell has given us a heroine for our bleak new age...Berlin is both tough and fragile but far from stereotypical...Her closest relative in modern fiction is the alcoholic DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect. Catch the wave now, while it's building.' The Times (UK)
'A full-throttle page-turner... Hard to believe this is her first novel – the writing is that good.'West Australian
'The writing is sharp and suspenseful, the plot engaging, the characters enthralling. I'm hooked on Annie Hauxwell and hanging out for my next fix.' Angela Savage
'Hauxwell's novel has already caused a stir in the book world. Expect her gritty crime series to rival some of the Scandi-greats.' Stylist.co.uk
'This is a brilliantly fast-paced novel, full of twists and turns and will have you utterly engrossed. I would highly recommend this to any lover of crime and look forward to more in the Catherine Berlin series.' The Tattooed Book
'This is a compelling book, full of nostalgic glances to the old East End of her father's time, back beyond the Krays to Limehouse before it was obliterated by Canary Wharf and its army of crooked bankers. It is a complex plot and well written.' Shots magazine
'Whilst it's not particularly unusual to have a flawed central protagonist, unapologetic ones are less common. Add being female, and that makes In Her Blood's Catherine Berlin a rather rare beast, and a very welcome one.' Austcrimefiction.org
