'Kiss and Tell' is a highly original crime fiction thriller by experienced TV drama scriptwriter TJ Cooke.
It's an inventive take on the genre. There are no hard boiled detectives here, and no copycat serial killers either. Instead we are introduced to the 'accidental lawyer' Jill Shadow, whose troubled past catches up with her, leading her into a world of phenomenal drug dealing, money laundering and murder.
Forget every lawyer stereotype you've ever come across, because Jill Shadow certainly breaks the mould.
Emerging from a challenging 'working class' background, Jill had to struggle to qualify the hard way, by balancing professional learning with parental care. A single mother from a poor London estate she worked her way up from secretary, to legal executive to fully qualified criminal lawyer.
As a an 18-year-old she fell pregnant to her boyfriend at the time, the mischievous Jimmy Briscoe, who, unbeknown to her, was into large-scale drug dealing. When Jimmy received a lengthy jail term Jill was left with five month old baby Hannah to look after. She ostracised Jimmy from her life and as the years went by told Hannah an entirely different story about her father's background.
We join Jill 12 years later, now having established herself as a top criminal lawyer. But as Jimmy is finally released from jail she soon realises that not only must she confront her past, which she has hidden from her professional colleagues too, but that she must judge Jimmy far more acutely than she could ever have imagined.
Jill has just taken on a new client, the enigmatic Bella Kiss. Originally from Hungary, Bella has been stopped at London Heathrow with a kilo of heroin strapped around her in a girdle. Bella claims to have been working as an informer for a detective, someone, assumes Jill, who can at least vouch for her client. However when the officer is found murdered and Jill is stalked by the mysterious 'suited man' she realises she has become entangled in a darker world altogether...
...What's more, Jimmy is somehow connected to the Bella Kiss case. He claims to be able to help her, by providing vital background information on a major drugs cartel... but is he telling the truth, or just snaring Jill into a trap by way of revenge for not being allowed contact with his daughter...?
Described in various reviews as 'a crime thriller with soul' and 'a real page turner', some have commented that the narrative drags you in so well that you might just try and read this book all in one go... you have been warned...