Don't Leave Me This Way

Loretta Lawson, Joan Smith's lecturer sleuth, makes her third appearance in Don't Leave Me This Way. Thoughtful, humorous, vulnerable, full of real doubts and emotions, Loretta Lawson is one of the most fully-realized characters in crime fiction; and her milieu is thoroughly convincing. Smith is brilliant at pacing narrative, maintaining suspense while delivering the plot in a completely open-handed way. In the race to the finish, the reader is neck-and-neck with Loretta.

Joan Smith is the author of Misogynies, and five novels featuring Loretta Lawson: A Masculine Ending, Why Aren't They Screaming, Don't Leave Me This Way, What Men Say and Full Stop. The first two have been filmed for BBC television with Janet McTeer playing the role of Loretta. Joan Smith has also edited a collection of short stories, Femmes de Siecle, and is writing a book about food. She writes a monthly column in the Guardian, and contributes to the Independent on Sunday, the Observer and the Financial Times.