Could you sit across from a murderer, listen to their crimes, empathise and help them change? Welcome to the Probation Service.

Elizabeth Baxter has heard it all. Thieves, rapists, drug dealers, burglars, murderers, abusers and arsonists – they’ve all confided in her.

Some are harder to shake than others. There’s sweet, baby-faced Stella who hurled a brick through her ex’s window and threatened to cut off his… well, you get the picture. Jak, who burned down his grandfather’s shed and prized model railway. And who could forget Steve who set up a complex marmite-based distillery in his cell. The moonshine wasn’t for drinking though, but for cleaning. He remains, in Elizabeth’s professional opinion, Britain’s most fastidious murderer.

Recalling her twenty-five years in Britain’s probation service, Elizabeth Baxter offers a fresh perspective on care within the criminal justice system. Warm and humane, A Murderer’s Guide to Cleaning pays tribute to the work of probation officers everywhere, who not only protect the public, but often act as the final safety net for society’s most vulnerable, from teenage asylum seekers to survivors of domestic abuse.