Book excerpt: Now a major television series on All4 and CBC, The Coroner is the first gripping installment in Matthew Hall's twice CWA Gold Dagger nominated Coroner Jenny Cooper series. Death is her living . . . When lawyer Jenny Cooper is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she’s hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny’s curiosity is aroused. Why was Marshall behaving so strangely before he died? What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart? In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusade for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity. The Coroner is followed by the second book in the Coroner Jenny Cooper series, The Disappeared. The Jenny Cooper novels have been adapted into a hit TV series, Coroner, made for All4, CBC and NBC Universal starring Serinda Swan and Roger Cross.