Released after 15 years in prison, Inés starts a business specialising in pest control and private investigation with her best friend - however, one of their clients is interested in more than just killing pests and wants to make use of Inés’ criminal past…

I had not realised this was technically a sequel, so when it arrived I had a slight dither over whether I should read the previous book first. I decided to forge ahead anyway, and I’m happy to report that this works perfectly well as a standalone - I never felt that I was missing any critical information.

I very much enjoyed it, though not quite as much as Piñeiro’s two previous novels, which I loved for their very effective immersive narration - this one isn’t quite as immersive due to the multiple POVs, but is still superbly written. I’m in two minds about the chorus chapters - they enable clever commentary on what’s happening in the story, but also took me out of it.

The story is effectively a mystery - Señora Bonar has clearly chosen Inés for a specific reason, but why and what is going to unfold? The whole book was engrossing, but becomes increasingly propulsive towards the end - I was connecting the dots more quickly than Inés and Manca and reading with my heart in my mouth to see if would they figure things out in time.

But Piñeiro elevates the story to so much more than literary crime fiction with her astute social commentary on relationships between women. There’s Inés and Manca’s wonderful friendship, but also mother-daughter relationships and darker themes of “bad mothers” and motherhood, though not necessarily in the traditional way. Crimes committed by and against women are another major thematic strand, tied in with the obsessive nature of revenge. There’s also a surprising amount of information about flies, which I appreciated as a lapsed biologist. Piñeiro skilfully weaves all these strands into an unputdownable story.

A superbly-written and enthralling mystery packed with social commentary on crimes against and by women, motherhood and friendship.