Showing results by author "Helen Black" in All Categories

Liberty Chapman had a difficult childhood. The oldest of four kids, she tried to protect them from their violent father until one day he murdered their mother and got sent down. What was left of the family rattled through the care system, bouncing from foster placement to care home. Liberty would have probably ended up on drugs, or dead, or worse if it hadn't been for a ballsy solicitor who told her to get her act together. So that's what she did. She kept her nose clean, got an education. And look at her now. New name, new accent, new town....

The UK is gripped by the threat of gang violence - the media is building on that hysteria, convincing us that knife crime is rife and the streets are flooded with guns and drugs. So when a member of a notorious girl gang is charged with a brutal murder, sympathy is in short supply. Enter Lilly Valentine, a tough talking lawyer who is never prepared to take things at face value and is determined to uncover the truth, whatever the cost.

Things are looking up for Liberty Greenwood. She's brokered a deal with the local rival gangster, and it looks like the police have finally stopped investigating her. She even has a plan to steer her family away from their criminal activities. But when a spate of violence on the estates points to a hostile takeover bid from a crew from out of the area, Liberty is forced to take decisive and dangerous action - action which ends up with her doing a stint in prison.

One year on from being reunited with the family she abandoned, successful lawyer Liberty Chapman is still in Leeds - although she has stayed well away from the Greenwoods' business activities. Their criminal lifestyle may not sit right with Liberty, but blood is thicker than water, and surely what they do is their business, not hers? But when her youngest brother, Frankie, is seriously injured in a shooting, Liberty is forced to decide which side she is on and how far she will go to protect her own.

Four months have passed since the shocking death of Frankie Greenwood, but Liberty Greenwood has managed to keep the rest of her family safe and expand their criminal empire. But when Liberty and Jay set out to teach a protection racketeer a lesson, things get out of hand and the Greenwoods soon find themselves under attack: the Black Cherry is fire-bombed and Crystal is arrested. Liberty must hold her nerve, make alliances with old enemies and discover exactly who is trying to destroy her.

Having recently split up from the father of her baby, Lilly is not in a happy place, matters being complicated further by the arrival of her ex-husband, needing a sofa to crash out on, having been thrown out by his girlfriend. In the midst of all this Lilly is asked by a child psychologist if she will help one of her patients: a girl currently sectioned having stolen a car while extremely drunk. While Lilly visits her she is introduced to Chloe, another unstable teenager who slips Lilly a note saying: "Help us". And then Lilly's client is killed and Chloe accused of her murder. Her case is not helped by the fact that the words "Help us" have been carved on the dead girl's stomach....

Funny, sexy, sad, joyful - follow Kim as she reclaims her life without a word of psychobabble - briefcase in one hand, diaper bag in the other....