Star Struck

Star Struck
Val McDermid

‘This is crime writing of the very highest order … Kate Brannigan has turned into the most interesting sleuthess around’ The TimesBodyguarding had never made it to Manchester PI Kate Brannigan’s wish list. But somebody’s got to pay the bills at Brannigan & Co, and if the only earner on offer is playing nursemaid to a paranoid soap star, the fast-talking computer-loving white collar crime expert has to swallow her pride and slip into something more glam than her Thai boxing kit.Then offstage dramas threaten to overshadow the fictional storylines till the unscripted murder of the self-styled ‘Seer to the Stars’ stops the show,leaving Kate with more questions than answers.And you just can’t get the help these days. Her process server keeps getting arrested; her tame hacker has found virtual love; her best friend is besotted with baby; and the normally reliable Dennis has had the temerity to get himself arrested for murder as a result of his latest dodgy business venture. Nobody told her there’d be days like these…

VAL McDERMID

Star Struck

For Tessa and Peps, the Scylebert Twins (aka Margaret & Nicky) Thanks for all the laughter – we’ll never feel the same about Isa.

Table of Contents

Prologue (#u87315b76-b3e0-5bf9-99a6-33c3ec9ff811)

Chapter 1 (#ubadfcc42-5cfd-5bb3-a4b3-de6aeacb271d)

Chapter 2 (#uf13a6abb-546d-5e41-a061-ec53f7ca9889)

Chapter 3 (#u35f49f26-3f0f-5a38-aaa4-0a099082b306)

Chapter 4 (#uf1dd2e77-8863-532d-a380-b9957de9c1eb)

Chapter 5 (#ufa6b34a2-a080-5306-bde0-df522d838852)

Chapter 6 (#ube89e8d6-f73c-5873-ad1c-92adca55c82b)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

By the Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue (#u4e10d156-d23f-5259-8f0f-2c7aec8ac5d0)

Extract from the computer database of Dorothea Dawson, Seer to the Stars

Written in the Stars for Kate Brannigan, private investigator.

Born Oxford, UK, 4th September 1966.

* Sun in Virgo in the Fifth House

* Moon in Taurus in the Twelfth House

* Mercury in Virgo in the Fifth House

* Venus in Leo in the Fourth House

* Mars in Leo in the Fourth House

* Jupiter in Cancer in the Third House

* Saturn retrograde in Pisces in the Eleventh House

* Uranus in Virgo in the Fifth House

* Neptune in Scorpio in the Sixth House

* Pluto in Virgo in the Fifth House

* Chiron in Pisces in the Eleventh House