Carole Sutton

And the Devil Laughed Carole Sutton

HANNAH FORD, an under-cover cop, takes a surveillance job in Draper's Wharf. The small town on the banks of the Parramatta River in Australia has links to the drug trade, so the latest whisper goes. Her brief: to observe, report, and locate its source. When she arrives, the town is in shock after the rape and murder of its local barmaid. Hannah, a rape victim, could pull out, but she needs this job to prove her competence to return to the streets and full duties. Threaded through the main story, is Hannah's own account of guilt and rage born of her husband's death, her rape and degradation that followed. In working to find the source of drugs in Draper's Wharf, the line between her case and the murder enquiry is fading fast. Can she hack it, or is her worst nightmare about to be re-enacted, as she becomes their next target. (Short listed for the Genre Fiction Award by New Holland Publisher 2007)