Nerves of steel and hair of red. 25-years-old. Small of stature and totally fearless. Physically reckless and digitally very well connected. Quick with her wits and good around computers, especially the social media sites that baffle older members of the Met.

In The Murder Bag, Max Wolfe first encounters Edie when she is a uniformed PC (there are no more WPCs in the Metropolitan Police Force – men and women are all PCs), while older cops swoon at the sight of the banker with his throat cut, Edie is calm, cool and capable – showing grace under pressure, always. When she becomes a TDC (Trainee Detective Constable), Max and Edie become allies in the hunt for Bob the Butcher.

With a work ethic that borders on obsession, Edie Wren has a chaotic social life that largely revolves around a doomed affair with a married man. Easily bored when confirmed to the Murder Investigation Room at West End Central, TDC Edie Wren is always eager to help Max Wolfe when he goes “off the book” and acts independently.

She turned to look at me with the cool, steady gaze that I remembered from my first day in Homicide, up at the bank, Hugo Buck on the shag carpet with his throat opened up. It was the rebellious red hair that gave her away. Everything else seemed different, because this time she was not in uniform.

“DC Wolfe?” she said. “I don’t know if you remember me. From the one-oh-one at ChinaCorps? TDC Edie Wren?”