London, summer 1927. Frederick Rowlands, a First World War veteran who was blinded at Ypres, is working as a switchboard operator in the City when an over-heard telephone conversation draws him into a murder case.

From then on, his safe and conventional life, painstakingly reconstructed after the horrors he experienced in the trenches, is shaken to its very foundation. As Fred is drawn deeper into a web of lies and half-truths, he must rely on his remaining senses, as well as his remarkable memory, to uncover the shocking truth about the murder which threatens to undermine everything he holds dear.

'Blinded in the Great War, Frederick Rowlands relies on his other senses to detect what those with clear sight have failed to spot . With a plot that is cleverly contrived and an endearing lead character, this mystery is a sheer delight' Daily Mail



'Brilliant series' Elizabeth Buchan



'Beautifully written, the period is utterly convincing, and the hero is one of the most fascinating detectives' Amanda Craig

'Touch, hearing, smell and visual memory created such full world that it was hard to believe it hadn't been described visually' Helen Dunmore

'A wonderfully atmospheric whodunnit with an interesting detective, clever plotting and a great variety of supporting characters' Mystery People

First published as Line of Sight under A. C. Koning.



Christina Koning has worked as a journalist, reviewing fiction for The Times, and has taught Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London. From 2013 to 2015, she was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She won the Encore Prize in 1999 and was long-listed for the Orange Prize in the same year.