Trust Me, I'm Dead

Shortlisted for the 2018 CWA Debut Dagger for unpublished first novel

Longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award 2020

She hasn't seen her brother in years. Now, he's dead.

When Judi Westerholme finds out her estranged brother has been murdered, she assumes it's connected to his long-term drug addiction. Returning home, she is shocked to discover he had been clean for years, had a wife—now missing—a child and led a respectable life. But if he had turned his life around, why was he killed in a drug deal shooting? And where is his wife?

Desperate to know what really happened, Judi sets out to uncover the truth, even though it means confronting her own traumatic past. But she's not the only one looking for answers...

She turned her back on her brother before. Should she trust him now?

With a gutsy, unapologetic protagonist, Trust Me, I'm Dead is a gritty and bold crime thriller that explores the sacrifices people will make for their families.

Trust Me, I'm Dead is fast-paced, well-structured, with twists and turns on almost every page—some brutal, some tender. And hallelujah, Clark follows the great rule of writing crime novels: keep the suspense level high and make the reader wait. Halfway through, I nearly flipped to the end but restrained myself. Trust Me, I'm Dead is confident, funny, full of surprises. Highly recommended.'—Renee Taylor, author of The Wild Card and These Two Hands.