Maestra

A shockingly original thriller - the launch title of Zaffre, the new fiction imprint of Bonnier Publishing Fiction

Judith Rashleigh works as an assistant in a prestigious London auction house, but her dreams of breaking into the art world have been gradually dulled by snobbery and corruption. To make ends meet, she moonlights as a hostess in one of the West End's less salubrious bars, although her work there pales against her activities on her nights off.

When Judith stumbles across a conspiracy at her auction house, she is fired before she can expose the fraud. In desperation, she accepts an offer from one of the bar's clients to accompany him to the French Riviera. But when an ill-advised attempt to slip him sedatives has momentous consequences, Judith finds herself fleeing for her life.

Now alone and in danger, all Judith has to rely on is her ability to fake it among the rich and famous and the inside track on a lucrative art fraud that triggered her dismissal.

Set in the palaces and yachts of Europe's wealthy, with a heroine as perceptive as Amy Dunne and as dangerous as Lisbeth Salander, this marks the beginning of a sequence of novels that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.