Fire, folklore and sanctioned chaos - DCI Holly Hennessy just wants to survive her first Lewes Bonfire when a flaming barrel tears through the crowd and smashes open to reveal the charred body of a teenage girl.





As Holly takes control of the investigation, the trail leads her straight into the path of Kyra Ford, a local academic and documentary presenter, who Holly hasn't seen since their friendship imploded at school fifteen years earlier. Kyra isn't just a witness to the crime - she's also a reminder of a betrayal Holly has spent her entire adult life trying to forget. As the two women circle each other against a backdrop of festering hatreds and hidden abuses of power, Holly must confront both her past and a killer who may be planning to strike again.





Bonfire is an intense debut crime thriller into which Hepburn channels years of experience at the front line of the medical profession, and that blazes a trail that must be seen to be believed.



Iona Hepburn is an ICU doctor who has worked Lewes, taught at Sussex University, and now lives in Brighton with her wife and daughter. She likens her medical career to that of police detectives in their shared sense of humanity and overfamiliarity with death. Bonfire is her debut novel.