Note to readers

While the crime depicted in this story is entirely fictitious, this loose grouping of documents is based on a ‘barrister’s brief’ or the documents lawyers provide to barristers to educate them about the history of a court case. We were both struck by the literary quality of such briefs in criminal trials, which unravel stories, often told from the point of view of numerous narrators. Of course, real briefs are written by lawyers and are substantially longer (and drier!) containing duplicates and details that are not appropriate for a novel. Although we have gone to substantial effort to create authentic legal and police documents, we have deviated from standard form – imbuing some with more character or voice, culling others, creating interviews where there may only have been a statement, and organising them in a manner to assist narrative drive. The correspondence between Celia and Alice, for example, while an essential piece of evidence, is unlikely to have been spliced between the other records. We hope, however, to have given the readers the flavour of a true crime.

KFK and MR