Meet Kent’s Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman. She’s given everything to rise to the top. She’s menopausal, overworked — and the only one who can crack this impossible case. ‘In Cutler, we are undoubtedly dealing with the crème de la crème.’ The Times Please note, this book was previously published as Life Sentence. Months from retirement, Detective Fran Harman should be winding down and planning her move to the seaside. Instead, her boss — a dear friend who’s fast becoming something more — hands her the most baffling cold case of her career. The victim is dubbed Elise. She was found by a road, battered beyond recognition. A passing man tried to resuscitate her. She’s been lying in a hospital bed ever since. Visited by the man who gave her the kiss of life. He was the prime suspect, but he has a cast-iron alibi. With doctors about to switch off Elise’s life support, Fran will stop at nothing to get justice for her. But how much can one woman handle? And in a case where nothing — and no one — is what they seem, Fran will need to watch her back. Discover a fiendishly twisty British crime mystery from a bestselling author. Fans of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Karin Slaughter, Angela Marsons, A.J. Cross, Mel Sherratt and Helen H. Durrant are sure to be hooked. READERS LOVE COME TO HARM: ‘A warhorse of a character.’ Northern Echo ‘A very sympathetic character facing the difficulties of her position and age with great determination.’ Crime Squad ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Hurrah. A book with a menopausal woman dealing with aged parents as the heroine. And she not only gets the murderer but a man as well.’ Ann ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Engrossing procedural with human interest . . . Judith Cutler is a master of her craft.’ Mary ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Well written and absorbing . . . I could sympathize with Fran in her dilemma.’ Damaskcat ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Intelligent.’ Sami ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A good balance between personal background and the crime solving.’ Mrs SJ Frankis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘One of the best I’ve read for ages, very true to life and really brought home some experiences.’ Muriel THE DETECTIVE Officers don’t come more driven than Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman. She’s spent decades rising through the ranks of the Kent Force, while handling everything life has to throw at her. Including the untimely death of the love of her life. Now, aged fifty-three, she finds herself menopausal, overworked and alone. Torn between her career and the demands of caring for two elderly parents, is she about to burn out? THE SETTING Fran Harman’s made a cozy home for herself in Lenham, a picture-perfect little village in the Kent countryside, in the south of England. This cottage is her refuge, the place she comes back to to unwind after a hard day’s work at the station.