The name The Brotherhood of Vigilance started out as a joke, but it stuck. This scary-as-hell motley band of brothers number thirteen or so--most are ex-military. Most have seen their share of combat and warfare on foreign shores. Now they are committed to serving their country and its citizens in a way consistent with their “special” skills. As in warrior skills. They wade in when the courts have been hogtied by bureaucratic red tape or just don’t give a damn. They assist victims of kidnapping, assault, rape, attempted murder, torture and mayhem and a whole host of other bad things. ...

Fiona Fisher lives a quiet and contented existence. A former nurse who married Jason, the doctor of her dreams, she is now a mother to his two daughters and living in the sort of cosy village home she’d always wished for.

‘Just rest, Frankie. I’ll take care of you.’ I feel my baby kick as my nanny fluffs my pillows and lays me down. She gives me a soothing smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She knows I’m afraid of her… When I shake our nanny Jasmine’s hand for the first time and catch her perfect smile, I can’t ignore the feeling that we’ve met before. But I tell myself it’s nothing. I desperately need help around the house. Since I got pregnant, I burst into tears over the smallest things and my mind is a haze. I can barely look after my toddler Olivia. Jasmine is a godsend–isn’t she?

Yasmin’s career is finally taking off. After years of fighting for visibility in the theater, the British-Pakistani actress lands the eponymous role of Mrs. Bibi—the ultimate aunty-ji—in a hit primetime sitcom. Her newfound success means a steady paycheck, the possibility of owning her own home, and a carefree fling with a charming young assistant director. But when her estranged sister arrives with news of their mother, Yasmin's hard-won stability is shaken to its core.

When Nigel Baxter, a middle-aged married banker with an unremarkable past, is found dead in the bath of a plush hotel suite, his wrists slit, it looks as if he's taken his own life. At first. But when Detective Inspector Daniel Riley is assigned to the case, he soon realises all isn't as it first appears to be. When a postmortem shows Baxter was poisoned, Riley suspects foul play. And then there's the odd addition of a teddy bear left at the crime scene....