This was definitely a five star read for me, I just couldn’t put it down and that’s always a good sign! Though a few aspects of the mystery were not entirely hard to predict, this did not detract from the overall reading experience. Rinder is already working on the second in the series, this time partly set in the world of daytime TV.

Rob Rinder has drawn from his firsthand legal knowledge to produce a classic whodunnit, with a sensational twist.

Knight, who has both form and motive, is strangely reluctant to advance any information that may help his defence. Rinder, 45, is great company – garrulous, a little gossipy, interested in anything and everything (he spends the first few minutes of the interview questioning me about my life until I have to move him on). The solution proposed by their glamorous new neighbours Gabriel and Holly – a life-insurance fraud – can’t possibly be serious … Or so Myles thinks, until the police arrive to tell him that Lana has been killed in a car accident. Apart from the name dropping of one celebrity friend, which I could happily have done without as personally I can’t stand the woman, this did have a solid story with a very likeable lead. The courtroom scenes and interactions are electric at times, it grips you as the evidence bats back and forth like tennis pros at Wimbledon just waiting for that killer volley.

Adam going the extra mile for Jimmy leads to complex connections, threats and dead ends as it barrels it’s way to a very good ending. The nature of justice and whether our legal system is always successful in attaining it, is a major part of the plot and this certainly made me think. Pupil barrister Adam Green is on Jimmy’s defense team headed by his pupil master Jonathan Taylor-Cameron, who would rather Jimmy plead guilty so that he could devote his attention to more high-paying clients. It was completely far fetched that the judge was involved in the murder itself, had a son with Mr Knight (the defendant) and presided over his case.There’s a moment – it happens to all young barristers – where you realise that what you’re doing has the most profound value to uphold democracy under the rule of law. Growing up with my incredibly emotionally literate mum has deprived me of a good five chapters of an autobiography,” he says. And I am here to assure you that this smart, twisty and captivating courtroom mystery is well worth your time. Adam is immensely likeable and is very dogged in his pursuit of evidence to help and support their client. A very basic explanation of “chambers” and “pupil master” would have been helpful, to with the lengthy pre trial section which wasn’t very exciting.

If you require at least one likable main character, this novel may be problematic, but for anyone who doesn’t need fictional friends and enjoys intrigue, deception and Highsmithian levels of paranoia, it’ll be an absolute pleasure. I knew the courtroom drama would give the exact detail as Rob (Robert) Rinder used to be a barrister and judge. This atmospheric reimagining of the real unsolved disappearance of student Bertha Mellish in 1897 is a haunting campus mystery.In November 2022, it was announced that Rob Rinder would join chef Monica Galetti as the new co-host of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby. I liked Adam’s telephone conversations with his mother as this was a good way of adding background and fleshing out his character and motivation. The mortgage payments are a stretch, and when Myles loses money in a disastrous investment things go from just about manageable to actively disastrous.