Signs of Murder — Jean Bedford

Fiona Galloway is a young, deaf social worker - self-assured, confident and successful.

But after a series of threatening letters are delivered to her door, her composure is shaken.

Fearing for her safety, she turns to private eye Anna Southwood for help.

Anna accepts the case with little to go on.

But the clock is ticking on, and things take a sinister turn for the worse when Fiona is found brutally attacked and beaten half to death.

Fiona tells Anna that she thinks the threats may be linked to her client, Jackie Sims, who is in Long Bay gaol on a murder charge.

With the two cases seemingly related but with no hard evidence, Anna struggles to piece together the stories and trace them back to perpetrators.

Who is so concerned about what Fiona knows that they would attempt to silence her in such a sadistic manner?

Anna soon realises that there is more behind this case that initially meets the eye.

With the body count increasing, she begins a race against the clock to untangle the web of intrigue - a world of crooked lawyers, shady doctors, members of Sydney's criminal underworld, and layers of secrets and corruption ...

Praise for Jean Bedford

‘Bedford has such a great eye and ear for the way we are and speak that it is a pleasure to burn the midnight oil' - ITA Magazine

‘Bedford is up with the best'- Graeme Blundell, The Australian

‘Both Anna and Bedford show promise in the world of detective fiction and we should look forward to another Anna Southwood mystery.' - New Woman

‘It is a very satisfying experience to read a detective thriller that is not only well written but so interesting it is hard to put down.' - The Newcastle Herald

Jean Bedford was born in England in 1946 and came to Australia in 1947. She was brought up in Victoria, graduated in Arts at Monash University and in TESL at the University of Papua New Guinea. She has taught English as a second language, worked as a journalist and a publisher's editor, taught creative writing classes, and was Literary and Arts Editor of the National Times. Her short stories have appeared in Nation Review, the National Times and Meanjin, and have been widely anthologised. She is married to Peter Corris and has three daughters, Sofya, Miriam and Ruth, and a stepdaughter, Abi. She lives on a small island in Moreton Bay.