May Hanover was a good girl growing up, well behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May did not have room to slip up, let alone fall. Her friends did not call her “the Little Sheriff for nothing.”

But even good girls have secrets, regrets and when it comes to friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she’s had her fair share of both. The bond -forged when May was just twelve years old- has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun.

A Holiday in the Hamptons for three friends with gruesome consequences. The women are a Chinese American district attorney, a black classical musician and the scion of a rich family whose chef husband was recently murdered.  A chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank goes horribly awry, as the trio play on other car travellers appears to result the trio in the middle of a missing persons investigation. As the case takes a deadly turn, and long buried secrets are uncovered, the three friends are suddenly unsure who they can trust, least of all each other. The three are being torn apart as the toxic female friendships are compromised. When May finds herself at the centre of an urgent police investigation, she begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.

The Note by  Alafair Burke, Faber £9.99