If Looks Could Kill

Mid-life TV anchor Connie Boudicca Bunting (think a ditzily mature Bridget Jones crossed with dynamic Avenger Emma Peel) isn’t just a minor celeb battling against the ageing effects of time; she’s an intelligent real woman with a job to do and a private life that just keeps getting in the way.

On her morning slog up Mousehold Heath, she meets the mysterious Ilona who she later fears has fallen victim to Norwich’s Vampire Killer. Determined to find a murderer and aided by side-kick trainee reporter Felicity, she delves into the Norwich vice scene. Over the next fourteen increasingly high-paced days, Connie takes on both the ruling forces of the sexist world she operates in and her own painful memories. Her investigation leads to a series of personal and professional reckonings that will forever change her view of both past and future and teach her plenty about how to live in her own skin.

IF LOOKS COULD KILL is not only a page-turner and upmarket women’s crime novel, it also provides an insight into the world of regional TV. Set in a fictional but recognisable Norwich and Norfolk, it spans twenty years in the life of our relatable heroine Connie as she builds her career in local TV station Boudicca Broadcasting. Alongside raising issues of body image and ageing, it tackles concerns over the media representation of crime. It explores regional issues like coastal erosion, mobile phone coverage and energy provision from the North Sea, all with a quirky Gothic twist.