George’s neck colours. ‘I imagine you are.’

‘Give me a ring,’ Kate touches the back of his hand, making him start; a fifty pence piece drops into the pot with a clang. ‘Let’s chat.’

‘Will you be back next week?’ he asks, swallowing.

‘Of course. I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.’

She smiles prettily then turns and strolls out of the church hall, feeling the weight of his gaze as she leaves. Only when she’s out of eyeshot does she glance at her watch. That’s ‘Survivors of Violent Crime’ done, along with ‘The Other Side of Divorce’, earlier that evening and ‘Childlessness Through Choice’ that morning. If she jumps in a cab she should make it to the ‘Wives of Prisoners’ meeting with a couple of minutes to spare and then tomorrow she’s got ‘Living With Toxic Friendships’ and ‘Rebuilding Trust After A Relationship Ends’. She smiles and stretches her arms above her head. SoulShrink may be no more but that was only a tower block of a business. She’s going to build a self-help self-empire, and crown herself Queen.

Acknowledgements

A quick author note before the acknowledgements. Please don’t read them if you haven’t read the book yet as they may contain spoilers:

Firstly, any legal types who have read this book may be querying the sentence that Tom Wade received for the sweat lodge deaths. I spoke to a barrister about a charge of gross negligence manslaughter and the UK guidelines were so specific they would have had a significant impact on my plot so I had to use a little artistic licence in awarding Tom Wade a two-year sentence.

Secondly, whilst the comments in the book about the murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia are based on reality (you can read about the case in the news), I didn’t come across any cases in my research where the police in Gozo covered up a crime – that was pure fiction on my part. Gozo is an absolutely beautiful island and a very safe place for tourists to visit. Please don’t let this novel put you off visiting, it really is magical.

Thirdly, those who know me well will realise that there are similarities between Fran’s past and my own – we both went to boarding school, we both had fathers in the army and we both have significant age gaps between us and one of our siblings. That is where the similarity ends – there was no swinging or tea swilling in the Taylor household and we are nowhere near as dysfunctional!

So, on with the acknowledgements …