BOOKS

YOU THINK YOU’VE HEARD MY STORY BEFORE…
At twenty-seven, I’m too young to be a widow. I’m trying my best to start over though: new city, new job running my own little shop. I try to fade into the background where I can, but the police won’t let me disappear completely. There are too many unanswered questions about the night my husband died.
YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME…
I even have a new lodger, Elizabeth. She’s friendly, but definitely not a friend. Beautiful, too – tall and slim with the sort of swishy blonde hair I’ve always coveted. She smiles at me when we pass on the stairs. It occurs to me then that I don’t know the first thing about her.
…BUT YOU’RE SO, SO WRONG.
If I were to tell you what happened to us next, you wouldn’t believe me. You might believe Elizabeth – she’s the type who people trust… until it’s too late.
…I guess you’ll have to find out for yourself.

Jen Shaw is climbing in the mountains near Alajar, Spain. And it’s nothing to do with the fact that an inscrutable acquaintance suggested that she meet him there… But when things don’t go as planned and her brother calls to voice concerns over the whereabouts of their mother, Morwenna, Jen finds herself travelling to a refugee camp on the south coast of Malta. Free-spirited and unpredictable as ever, Morwenna is working with a small NGO, helping her Libyan friend, Nahla, seek asylum for her family. Jen is instantly out of her depth, surrounded by stories of unimaginable suffering and increasing tensions within the camp. Within hours of Jen’s arrival, Nahla is killed in suspicious circumstances, and Jen and Morwenna find themselves responsible for the safety of her daughters. But what if the safest option is to leave on a smuggler’s boat?

Reviews for CUT ADRIFT

CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
“an original voice in crime fiction”
“Jane Jesmond’s riveting second novel” The Sunday Times


THRILLER OF THE MONTH “depth and complexity…. freighted with contemporary resonance.” The Times

“…finding a new voice with something compelling to say in the crime writing field can be difficult. Thankfully there are people out there trying to deliver a twist on the genre, and Jane Jesmond is one of them.”
Yorkshire Magazine

Excerpt from ON THE EDGE Audiobook below

Jen Shaw has climbed all her life: daring ascents of sheer rock faces, crumbling buildings, cranes – the riskier the better. Her entire life revolved around free climbing, and the adrenaline high it gave her. Until one day her luck ran out and someone she cared about got hurt. So she’s given it all up now. Honestly, she has.
Yet, when Jen awakens to find herself drugged and dangling off the local lighthouse during a wild storm less than twenty-four hours after a family emergency takes her home to Cornwall, she needs all her skill to battle her way to safety.
Has Jen fallen back into her old risky ways, or is there a more sinister explanation hidden in her hometown? Only when she has navigated her fragmented memories and faced her troubled past will she be able to piece together what happened – and trust herself to fix it.

“A promising debut …original mystery” Sunday Times

“..sweeps the reader along ” The Times Crime Club

“A brilliant debut for an all-new series.”
Female First

“Fans of The Girl On The Train will love it” Love Reading

“A great read.” Promoting Crime Fiction

“Never less than intriguing.. bodes well for future books in the series” Herald Scotland

“a gripping premise, a well executed plot and an evocative Cornish setting” NB Magazine

“filled with twists and turns.. a great debut” Living North

“an exciting first instalment” The Indiependent