*Winner of Best New True Crime Author, CrimeCon UK True Crime Awards 2023*




*Shortlisted for the ALCS Gold Dagger award for non-fiction, Crime Writers’ Association Awards 2023*



The gripping true story of how Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay brought Melanie Road’s murderer to justice.



BATH, 1984



Jean Road, a 49-year-old mother of three, awakens to news that her daughter Melanie has been murdered in a nearby street as she walked home from a club in the early hours.


Britain’s biggest manhunt begins. A trail of blood is found leading away from the scene. It’s a rare blood type. But despite a year-long inquiry and 94 arrests, the case is wound down. No one is charged with Melanie’s murder.



AVON & SOMERSET POLICE HQ, 2009



Detective Sergeant Julie Mackay, a 41-year-old single mother of three who has been overlooked for promotion for years, transfers to the Cold Case Unit. She unearths a file from the original inquiry and becomes hooked by the details: the rare blood type, Bath on a summer’s night, the investigative wrong turns … She takes on the case, and with the help of Melanie’s inspirational mother works tirelessly to rebuild it.



This is the true story of how she did it.