Elena in Exile

Elena Balan should be laying low. After all, she's on the run from a horrible mistake.

A Romanian single mum, Elena arrives in London to discover that her lover, Frances, has vanished. To find her, Elena's 14-year-old daughter Ana enlists the help of a police officer, the disgraced former DC Robin Yarmouth.

Although Frances' whereabouts remain a mystery, things begin looking up. Elena and Ana find an apartment, a job, and a new school. Then Elena's sex worker neighbour and friend is found dead. The police are certain it's suicide. Elena suspects otherwise and her instincts are not to let it go. But will Elena's investigations with Yarmouth prove her own undoing?

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Elena in Exile is the first book in a projected series about the irrepressible Elena Balan and her journey towards becoming a Met police detective. Set in London's Soho, forever on the cusp of escaping its sleazy past, the novel has a cast of rogues, misfits and eccentrics including Elena's impetuous teen daughter Ana, her film-loving boyfriend Chris, and Italian cafe owner Luca.

Blending the observation and humanism of Henning Mankell with the narrative drive and darkness of Jo Nesbo, Elena in Exile is a shocking and surprising debut.