The Real-Town Murders

Alma is a private detective in a near-future Reading, rebranded as R!-town to try to tempt people away from the delights of Shine, the immersive successor to the internet.

Her partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die.

So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home.

What follows is a fast-paced thriller as she evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth the dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.