When her colleague and close friend is murdered, high-school English teacher Clare chronicles her suspicions about the case in her diary until one day she discovers a sinister message in it and fears that a dark story has come to terrifying life.

"Newly minted PI Emma Holmes and her partner Sam Collins are just settling into their business when they're chosen for a high-profile case: retired music-hall star Verity Malone hires them to find out who poisoned her husband, a theater impresario. Verity herself has been accused of the crime. The only hitch--the Brighton police are already on the case, putting Emma in direct competition with her husband, police superintendent Edgar Stephens. Soon...