Oxford: the city of dreaming spires and lofty knowledge. Or so they say. But for private investigator Sam Falconer, it seems to be a place of sin and secrets. And Sam's better placed than most to know - she grew up in an Oxford college and now she's back to set up a branch of her detective agency. And as ever, cases have a way of finding Sam. Soon she has a vanished man to find, a museum display of shrunken heads to protect, and - as a near-fatal chase proves -her own skin to save. For Sam, like the Oxford antiquities she's tracking, it seems the secrets of the past aren't easily escaped. A taut mix of classic crime, modern noir and psychological drama, this is Blake at her very best.

Sam is an engaging and complex protagonist...but the city of Oxford is the really dominant character GUARDIAN it gripped me from the first page SOUTH WALES ARGUS

Victoria Blake was born in Oxford and brought up in Queen's College. She read history at Lady Margaret Hall and then qualified as a solicitor in London, before working in publishing and bookselling. She lives in West London with her partner and her cat, Dashiell Hammett.