The keeper

When Katie Straw's body is recovered from the water at a spot locals know as a place where people take their own lives, the police see little reason to look further. To them it is one more woman who ended her life. The residents of the domestic violence shelter where Katie worked refuse to accept that. Many of them have spent weeks or years expecting the men they fled to find them, and they are certain at once that Katie was murdered. Detective Dan Whitworth and his team expect the case to close quickly. Then they find evidence suggesting that Katie was not the person she seemed to be, and the investigation becomes less straightforward. The novel alternates between the police inquiry and the final months of Katie's life, moving toward an answer about what happened to her. It is a crime story, and it also looks at violence against women and the systems that let it continue. The Keeper is Jessica Moor's debut novel.