Soho, London, 1958. Three women. One boarding house. A secret that could shatter everything.

One wet afternoon in 1954, after a whirlwind romance, Edie West married Frank Budd in a South London registry office. With a spool of blue ribbon tied around her bouquet, she promised to love, honour, and obey him - for better, or worse.

Two years later, Edie arrives alone at 73 Dove Street, a West London boarding house run by the formidable Phyllis Collier: exhausted, nervous, carrying nothing but a cardboard suitcase. Phyllis' other lodger, Tommie, keeps herself to herself. But when Tommie discovers a secret from Edie and Frank's marriage, she's faced with a choice. Will she turn the other way? Or help set Edie free?

The Palace Pier Theatre. Brighton. 1933. Renowned murder mystery playwright Bertie Carroll turns real life detective when his leading lady is shot and killed on stage, in full view of an unsuspecting audience. Once the curtain falls and the applause subsides, the horrible truth begins to dawn on the cast of suspects backstage. But as motives, secrets and old rivalries begin to come to light, the murderer is still waiting in the wings. With the help of Chief Detective Hugh Chapman, an old friend from school, Bertie must put his amateur sleuthing skills to the test to unravel the ultimate whodunnit. The debut novel from Jamie West is set in and around The Palace Pier Theatre in Brighton, a lost theatre, lovingly recreated.