
Baz Swoon is on the brink of the biggest deal of his life when two brutal
murders shatter rural Maine — and all the evidence points straight at him.
His wife, Melanie, already wary of his secrets and long absences, questions the
man she thought she knew.
Detective Philippa Fraiser heads south to North Carolina, and together with
Lieutenant Marquez, they uncover a pattern too precise to be a coincidence.
Someone is orchestrating the perfect frame — always one step ahead.
As Baz’s world unravels, his reputation, marriage, and freedom hang by a thread.
But the deeper Philippa digs, the clearer it becomes. This isn’t just a setup.
The killer is studying everyone.

Alistair Birch is a thriller writer and occasional poet, penning silly and
poignant rhymes. After two stints with separate publishers, he turned indie in 2024, producing a nineteen-eighties psychological thriller, The Evil Within, followed up by a co-authored epic historical thriller, The Girl from Berchtesgaden.
The re-release of his two-book, modern action thriller series, Shadow Pursuit and Shadow Play, came next and in 2026 he’s begun a new US-based detective procedural series. Book one is called Two States One Killer with the sequel, Cold Vein, well into production.
Outside of writing, Alistair works in IT and has volunteered as a facilitator in a mental health charity. He loves to cook, and occasionally head out for a run.
My thoughts: The evidence builds against Baz, and the police are soon on his trail, only he doesn’t even know that they think he might have murdered two people. He’s busy organising a buyout of his business, or so he thinks. The only person he trusts is Nick, but is he wrong to do so?
When detective Philippa Fraiser arrives in North Carolina from Maine, she thinks it’s a pretty solid case, except her prime suspect has never been to Maine, and then his assistant Cindy disappears, swiftly followed by Baz himself. What is going on?
As Philippa and Martinez search for the man, a series of rather obvious clues left for them, lead them to think someone else is manipulating things, pulling Baz’s strings. And they might be dangerous.
A clever, twisty story, where it’s hard to know exactly who to believe in until it all starts to become clear, and fall apart, as the police close in on their killer, just as he thinks he’s got away with it.


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour,but all opinions remain my own.





















