Tessa is a brilliant British defence barrister dominating London’s ruthless courtrooms. Fierce, witty, and self-made, she defends men accused of sexual assault — until she is assaulted herself by a colleague from a powerful legal dynasty. Suddenly, the system she trusted turns against her. As she faces the same tactics she once used in court, Tessa’s faith in justice unravels. Once in control, now exposed and disbelieved, she must fight to reclaim her voice and sense of self.

The true story of a controversial honeytrap at the heart of the 1992 police investigation into the murder of a young mother in London. Examining the complicated and toxic sexual politics of the early ‘90s and the police’s obsession with the wrong man, Deceit enters a dysfunctional world, where a female undercover officer, codename ‘Lizzie James’, is asked to become sexual bait for a suspected killer.