Six candidates. One job. A killer prepared to murder their way to the top. Salford, 1983. Lorraine Quick is a single mum, a member of a band going nowhere fast and Personnel Officer at Salford's grim Memorial Hospital. A new General Manager position is being introduced, someone to steer the institution towards Margaret Thatcher's lofty vision for the NHS. The hospital's top brass are all vying for this new role and Lorraine will be pivotal in selecting the successful candidate, thanks to her recent training in psychometric testing. A deliberate substitution of a flu vaccine for a lethal dose of anaesthetic reveals a killer is at work.

Lorraine's suspicions turn towards the top brass vying for the new role - could the personality tests lead her to the killer? Sharp Scratch takes readers behind the scenes of a sprawling northern hospital, to the places the public does not see and would not want to, where clashes between politics and personalities can be fatal.