Juliet raised a finger to silence her. “No excuses. I know you and I know that the author who has written ten books in the last five years doesn’t miss deadlines. We are willing to let you drop that book for now and come back to it later if you want to, but the boys upstairs want something new and fresh.”

Lisa thought about all the research she had been doing. Dragging garbage bags full of dismembered limbs downstairs and bodies rolled up in Persian carpets… was it all for ...