The Widows

by Anna Smith

ONE FALSE MOVE COULD GET THEM KILLED

Ruby, Bella and Cissy are used to the high life. Married to gangland bosses at the top of their game, the riches of Costa del Sol are at their fingertips, the world at their feet.

But when Cissy's husband is brutally murdered, everything changes. With his lifelong friend - the notorious drug lord Tommy Mallon - hellbent on revenge, the three women are forced to go on the run.

Soon they find themselves caught up in an explosive struggle for money and power. A new life awaits - but only if they can outrun the one they've left behind . . .

Praise for Anna Smith's Kerry Casey series
'Martina Cole fans will love this' Daily Mirror
'Will keep you reading into the wee small hours' The Sunday Post
'Gritty, hard-edged, not for the faint-hearted' Sunday Mirror

323 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2026

About the author

Anna Smith is an award-winning journalist who spent a lifetime in daily newspapers, reporting from the frontline all over the world. She has covered conflicts from Somalia to Rwanda to Kosovo, where she witnessed the plight of tragic refugees, genocide and hideous ethnic cleansing. She has also worked on major investigations, unmasking drug dealers and paedophiles, as well as reporting on the Dunblane Massacre, to 9/11, where she was one of the first journalists on the scene in both world shaking events.

She writes novels full time now, using her vast experience as a journalist to create the hugely popular Rosie Gilmour character, a gritty Glasgow journalist who tears down the walls of corruption and will stop at nothing to get her story. Anna lives between her homes in Scotland and the West of Ireland - and also in Spain to escape the British weather.

Her highly acclaimed debut novel, The Dead Won't Sleep, was the first in the series, exposing corruption and child abuse at the very top of the establishment, echoing real news stories that are being reported at the moment, even though the novel was published three years ago.

The second in the series is, To Tell The Truth, and takes Rosie on a terrifying investigation into the kidnapping of a three-year-old girl from a beach in Spain while on holiday with her parents. It's a fast paced story of people trafficking and
international child porn, and is set in Glasgow, Spain and Morocco.

Book three, is Screams In The Dark, is a harrowing tale of refugees going missing in Glasgow. When a torso is found floating in the River Clyde, Rosie is on the trail of international criminals from London to Belgrade and uncovers a network of evil. It's a story close to Anna's heart as she reported from Kosovo at the start of the war when stricken refugees were spilling across the border in their thousands.

Her fourth in the series, is Betrayed, where Rosie takes on the criminals in the Ulster Volunteer Force in Glasgow. It's a gripping story of cocaine smuggling, of divided loyalties, of love and regret, and ultimately of betrayal.

Her latest novel, A Cold Killing, takes Rosie on the dangerous trail of gun runners as she probes the murder of a retired Glasgow University lecturer. The deeper she digs, she finds that he has a dark past that leads all the way to MI6 and the KGB.

You can read more on www.quercusbooks.co.uk. And also on her Anna Smith Crime Author page on Facebook. Or on Twitter.

Reviews

[Lucy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this.

already hoping and waiting for book 2

[Tracy Mckie Peart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three best friends bound together for life!

This is a new beginning for Anna and this book has it all!
From the Costa del Sol hotbed of crime, to the banks of the Clyde and Canals of Manchester.. The 3 friends are evaluating their respective futures & pondering their siphoned off Ill gotten wealth being married to the top dogs of organised crime.
When one of the girls is raped and almost choked to death by Terence, Tommys right hand man & best friend, the actions taken to save Cissy, leads to a path of fear and despair as the girls see no way out as they pack up and leave for their Spa break in the lakes as planned and get as far away as they can..

Ruby Bella & Cissy are having a time of their lives. They are on the way to a shopping spree, in a high end car, provided by Tommy for the girls to enjoy, when the 3 friends have their lives turned upside down!
A ramming off the road leaves them unconscious battered and injured.
In shock and with adrenaline pumping,
and reeling from the accident, Ruby pulls her friends to safety, and fearing for her life, Ruby takes the bag she’d not seen before and promises to come back for her mates. She can’t leave them to be caught with bag of ££ n drugs. They’re just crash victims!

Cissy & Bella are left to have wounds tended to and quizzed by the cops. Ruby knew they couldn’t run, had injuries and no choice but to stay put and face the cops. While Cissy & Bella spoke out about being set up, it fell on deaf ears. They made a pact to say little to nothing about Ruby as Ruby promised she’d be back for them and for them to trust her, and she rang the emergency services and she legged it.
Feeling battered n hard to weight bear, Ruby fought her way through brambles cutting into her skin, fast flowing rivers and she’d dragged herself through fields until she took refuge on a nearby farmland.

She was hiding out ,hurting, cold and exhausted when Ellie appeared with both barrels demanding to know who she was!

Now the hunt is really on, Ruby must not get caught!
Revenge will come later, but for now, she needs to lay low and stay dead…….
This book had me holding my breath one minute and laughing out loud the next.
It’s got you right in the heart of the story from page to page… Another great book by Anna and can’t wait for the next instalment to see how this is plays out!

[Melanie Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly brilliant, loved listening to this. Anna Smith is an excellent author who never fails to engage the reader with fabulous characters. Ruby is such a bad ass!!

[Julie Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please say there’s another book to follow, there has to be!!!!!
Can’t wait for more.

[Valerie Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wattsy

Wow what have I just read,Ruby is a badass woman but also caring of her friends,edge of your seat book,hope there is a second book in the horizon,really enjoyable