The Shape Of Snakes: Minette Walters

London, 1978 - the winter of discontent. Strikes occur every day and the Ranelagh's neighbour, Mad Annie, is discovered dying in the gutter, almost obscured by piles of rubbish. The other residents of Graham Road don't hide their satisfaction at her death and M. Ranelagh - the narrator - takes up a solitary and dangerously unpopular defence against the vilification of Mad Annie. So dangerous that M. and her husband Same flee the poisonous climate of England. Twenty years later, they return and M. begins acting on her secretly, painstakingly-collected research to piece together what really happened. But is it justice for Annie she wants? Or is it revenge for something very different?