Busniness is slow for Anya Crichton, a freelance forensic physician and pathologist. But after her evidence helps to win a high-profile case, demand for her services grows. Perhaps now she can start building up her income to the point where she can afford to fight her ex-husband for custody of their three-year-old son.

When lawyer Dan Brody asks Anya to investigate the apparent accidental death of the teenaged daughter of a local Lebanese businessman, Anya comes across something unexpected. There are links between this death and those of a nun and a doctor. All appear to be suicides, but there are similarities which make Anya question this finding in all three cases.

As she probes deeper into the case, Anya struggles to find a motive for the deaths and, through her own brand of detective work, to find the evidence which will lead her to the killer. What she finds is as unexpected as it is shocking, leaving Anya fighting not just for her own safety, but also that of her colleague, Detective Sargeant Kate Farrer and of Anya's son, Ben.

Malicious Intent is a gripping offering from first time author Kathryn Fox. Readers will be absorbed from start to finish, before being taken by surprise with the outcome.

Kathryn Fox is currently working on the second Anya Crichton novel. It will be eagerly awaited by those who read the first.

Malicious Intent, by Kathryn Fox
Macmillan, 2004

More Thrillers

Until Death, by Sandy Curtis
Disordered Minds, by Minette Walters
The Verge Practice, by Barry Maitland