The locksmith

It's no surprise that Martina Cole is a fan of this, Linda Calvey's first crime novel.

Linda Calvey herself is no stranger to crime. She bears the nickname of 'The Black Widow' as all her partners have met untimely deaths or ended up in prison. She herself was incarcerated for 18 years for the murder of Ronnie Cook and also served three and a half years prior for robbery.

This novel reads very much like a Martina Cole thriller.

The family at the Centre of the novel is poor to start with and while the children are adamant that they will uphold their parents request to not fall into bad ways with bad people, they are unable to keep their promise after being faced with the loss of both their parents.

While it takes some time for the real action to start, stay with it. I enjoyed the rise of Ruby and the drive she has to succeed. The scenes are nowhere near as graphic as a Cole novel and this will please some readers.