THE PACT

Desperate woman appeals to powerful convict for help; only trouble ensues.

When Eve Weston visits her brother Terry, in prison for armed robbery, she’s disturbed to find him bruised, lethargic and wasting away like a “Dickensian waif.” Another inmate, minor crime lord Martin Cavelli, unsettles her with his air of authority and unblinking stare. After mulling it over, Eve hires Cavelli to look after Terry without her brother’s knowledge. Eve’s recent past has been far from stable already. Ever since her father, a petty criminal of long standing, died a suspicious suicide, DS Eddie Shepherd has continued to track her movements. She lost her job as a secretary to high-profile solicitor Henry Baxter when his surly son Richard falsely accused her of having an affair with the boss. Eve has relocated to downscale Norwich, where she shares a flat with kleptomaniac Sonia. With so many potential menaces swirling around her, Eve has a hard time determining who’s broken into her apartment and why. Then shadowy Ivor Patterson, a stalker who’s connected to dangerous local celebrity Joe Silk, turns up dead, and the web gets even more tangled.

Celebrity author Kray—widow of British crime kingpin Reg, whose biography she penned—skillfully weaves a large cast and many plot lines into a big, brisk, busy tale of crime.