The Earthquake Bird

Early this morning, several hours before my arrest, I was woken by an earth tremor. I mention the incident not to suggest that there was a connection . . . for in Tokyo we have a quake like this every month . . . I am simply relating the sequence of events as it happened. It has been an unusual day and I would hate to forget anything . . .

So begins the day when Lucy Fly - a young English girl living and working in Tokyo as a translator - becomes the chief suspect in a murder investigation. While being interrogated by police, Lucy's past is revealed, and it is a past which is dangerously ambiguous and compromising.

Why did she leave England for the foreign anonymity of Japan ten years before, and what prompted her to sever all links with her family back home? She was the last person to see the murdered girl alive, so why is she not more forthcoming about the circumstances of their last meeting? As Lucy's story unfolds, it emerges that secrets, both past and present, consume her waking life . . .

Winner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger

Winner of the John Llewllyn Rhys Prize

Winner of the best crime debut 2001

'Compelling and haunting, this delicately crafted debut novel's tremors are felt long after the final page is turned' Observer

'Exquisitely written yet utterly chilling, this will keep you gripped from start to finish' Elle