Kiss of Death

When a rich socialite catches the Spanish flu, she uses it as a weapon to aid her escape from a loveless marriage. While her husband is convalescing from a gas attack inflicted on the battlefields of Europe, she infects him with a homicidal kiss. His ruined lungs are unable to fight the contagion and he meets a grim death.

As the pandemic cuts a swathe through the Wellington legal profession, Lorna McDougal is one of the few lawyers still standing. The Attorney-General appears to have no choice but to swallow his pride and appoint a woman as Crown prosecutor in the resultant murder trial.

Lorna relishes the chance to prove what a "mere woman" is capable of, but her life is thrown into chaos when her sapphist (lesbian) friends are subjected to a homophobic private prosecution. Meanwhile, the Law Society take umbrage at her new status and redouble their efforts to cull the only woman in their ranks. Lorna must save her friends, find justice for a murder victim, and earn the respect of a hostile profession.

Set in Wellington, New Zealand against the backdrop of the Spanish flu, The Kiss of Death is a historical legal thriller with LGBT+ themes. It is a story of love and friendship, prejudice and sexism, and the courage of a woman fighting for justice in a patriarchal world.