She knows she will be murdered. She believes she has chosen the man who will do it.

Samson Young arrives in 1980s London ill, broke, and determined to write one last novel. In a decaying city thick with corruption and appetite, he meets Nicola Six, a woman who is certain she will be killed on her thirty-fifth birthday.

Nicola is convinced the murderer will be one of two men already orbiting her. Keith Talent, volatile and reckless, and Guy Clinch, wealthy and naïve, are drawn into her confidence and her manipulation. She tests them both, as if narrowing the field.

Samson inserts himself into Nicola's circle, observing her calculation and encouraging the drama. Convinced he is documenting fate rather than shaping it, he begins to depend on the murder for the meaning of his book.

'A true story, a murder story, a love story and a thriller bursting with humour, sex and often dazzling language' Independent