The dark of the night. Two girls are running for their lives. Terrified, one falls, and unable to get up, she forces her friend to go on without her, to save herself. For her there is no escape as their attackers close in.The following morning the body of a young girl is found in the canal. DCI Thackeray, recently returned to the force after a bungled kidnapping operation left him near death, is put on the case. But with the entire town's attention focused on the football team's upcoming match against Chelsea, no one seems to be able to tell the police anything about how the girl died, let alone identify her.Thackeray's girlfriend, reporter Laura Ackroyd, also has much to investigate. The appointment of a female chairman at the football club has annoyed many people, in particular the men who dominate the share holders and who will apparently stoop to any depth to force her out.Thackeray and Ackroyd soon discover that their two stories are linked, and the common denominators are the shady dealings of the club's directors and the unsavoury goings on at the infamous post game parties. But as Laura becomes more and more involved in the case does she risk putting Thackeray's job and her life in danger?

PATRICIA HALL is the pen name of Maureen O'Connor. She was born and brought up in West Yorkshire which also provides the setting for her acclaimed series of novels featuring reporter Laura Ackroyd and DCI Michael Thackeray. She is married, with two grown-up sons and now lives in Oxford.