A frozen child is found close to death on a Cape Town mountainside. A gifted young musician leaves her school and disappears. A frightening pattern begins to emerge and Dr Clare Hart must unravel the secrets of these cases ... whilst carrying a secret of her own.

It's Rosa. There's trees outside. Get me help. Please. A terrified young woman leaves a phone message for her grandfather. He promised he'd protect her, but now she's disappeared. A little girl, only three years old, is found half-dead on a deserted mountainside. No one has reported her missing. Someone left her there to die. The two cases seem unconnected, but Dr Clare Hart can see a terrifying pattern emerging. Can she find Rosa? Or is it already too late?

"Orford plots so brilliantly that to stop reading is as harrowing as to carry on" - Telegraph (Books of the Year)

"Orford writes with verve and a crackling energy" - The Weekender

"Water Music is fascinated with the way cultural and political pressures affect criminal behaviour... Orford has a rare ability to get under the skin of the genre's conventions'" - Irish Times

"I loved the twists and turns of this book, and the truly unknowable nature of the next chapter" - The Bookseller

"Excellent" - Literary Review