It is my understanding this book is the first in a series that provide the back story to the main character in the TV show Prime Suspect. Having never seen that show I went into this read with an open mind and completely unbiased. What I found was a pretty likable main character and a pretty well done mystery. The setting is the early 1970's which I thought was such a great surprise. So very quickly you realize this is a time period way before all the fancy forensics of today and the author did a great job in conveying those elements of the police procedure. The author also did a great job in conveying that time period through the language and clothing descriptions. My main complaint is I really felt like this was at least 100 pages too long. I found myself getting a bit bored through the middle and wishing it was moving along at a faster clip.