Dirty Money is a great thriller that pulls back the curtain on the dark underbelly of London’s elite—where power, corruption, and oligarch money intertwine with disturbing ease. Charlotte Philby crafts a razor-sharp, timely narrative that feels both utterly gripping and frighteningly plausible.

The dual perspectives of Ramona Chang, a former journalist-turned-private investigator, and Madeleine Farrow, a determined government agent, make for a dynamic and compelling read. Both women are strong, complex, and refreshingly believable, navigating a web of deception, danger, and institutional resistance. Their intersecting investigations—one into a high-end escort service, the other into global financial corruption—are brilliantly woven together, building to a tense and rewarding conclusion.

Philby’s writing is crisp and immersive, painting a vivid picture of a London tainted by dirty money and those who enable it. The pacing is excellent, balancing intrigue, action, and character depth in a way that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The ending lands with impact, leaving enough threads open to make readers hungry for more.

For fans of intelligent, fast-paced thrillers with a social conscience, Dirty Money is a must-read. I hope there is a follow up!

I really enjoyed this fast-paced thriller set in the world of money laundering - love the voice, the view of London , the two female sleuths aand the writing. I enjoyed the End of Summer which is why I chose this and it did not disappoint!

In this gritty thriller from author and investigative journalist Charlotte Philby, we follow Ramona, a former journalist turned PI, and Madeleine, a Detective Sergeant with the Serious Crimes Investigations Department. They are initially working on two separate cases, but when their paths collide they decide to pool their respective talents to help each other.

The book takes its time to establish the different characters, highlighting the contrasts of London through the two different worlds these women inhabit. I'm looking forward to reading more books featuring this duo!

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The first Charlotte Philby book I have read. A fast paced, quick and gripping read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

This is the first novel I’ve read by Charlotte Philby and also the first in new detective series. There are two strong and believable female lead characters, an ex alcoholic, ex journalist and a wealthy, well connected intelligence officer. It’s a slow burn but well plotted story. I feel there’s a film or tv script here. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading further instalments.

Madelaine works for Serious Crimes dept and is investigating a group who are money laundering. When she is warned off within her group, she has to find a other way to get enough evidence to bring g the gang down.
Ramona has previously helped Madelaine to bring down a gang and is currently living under the radar as she is a key witness in the case. She is struggling with alcohol addiction, living in a seedy flat and trying to make a living as a private investigator. Investigating a set s am, a chance meeting of the two girls has them join forces to solve both crimes.
An exciting story although a bit slow to start as the scene is set. London descriptions help you picture the action. Worth a read

A first in the series, this was an ok read but a slow burner and I thought it would be more.
Chang was a journalist but is now a PI, hiding out in a run down flat.
DS Farrow is investigating A case when she crosses paths with Ramona again.
Two strong female leads working together for the better good.

This is my first Charlotte Philby book and I love a new detective series, so I was eager to read Dirty Money. I very much enjoyed the way the two characters inhabit very different versions of London. Ramona Chang used to be a journalist on the Camden News until a story she was working on brought her into conflict with organised crime and her life was seriously threatened. Now she has changed her name, hides out in a grotty East End bedsit and works pretty much under the radar as a private detective. Ramona is also a recovering addict, regularly attending AA meetings.

Madeleine Farrow, on the other hand, is independently wealthy as a result of inheritance. She is well connected (her brother is a government minister), dresses with style and lives in Marylebone. Madeleine is a Detective Sergeant with SCID, the Serious Crimes Investigations Department – an elite discreet unit of the Met. She is frequently abroad working on cases of international importance, such as the Vietnamese sex trafficking case from which she has just returned. She’s very well regarded in her circles though she and her brother have very different views on most things.

Madeleine is working on pinning down an international money laundering operation, operated by a Kazakhstan family where the wife and two adult children live in luxury in Mayfair and the oligarch father is currently in Kazakhstan, out of the Met’s jurisdiction. She must try to show that the whole family is engaged in substantial money laundering if she is to get authority to seize their assets under the proceeds of crime statute. At the same time she is mourning the loss of a friend, an MP who was murdered, leaving two small children behind.

Ramona has a new case. She has been contacted by a student who has been sexually assaulted after applying to a website to be considered as a kind of ‘sugar daddy’ escort in return for having her university fees and expenses taken care of.

The two cases could not be more different. Ramona does what she can on her new case. She’s certainly motivated to get to the bottom of this case, but her enquiries can only go so far. Then Ramona encounters Madeleine, whom she has met once before. Chatting to Ramona, Madeleine realises that the two can help each other. Ramona can go undercover for her and she’ll get paid, and she can help Ramona by providing some information on her case. Ramona agrees and the two women’s paths are joined.

Charlotte Philby’s book is a slow burn, as she takes time to establish her characters and mark out their very clear differences. I found it hard to visualise the SCID unit which seems remarkably small for such an important task. But the portrayal of the very different London that the two women inhabit is beautifully contrasted and conveys the settings so well. She really pins down the ghastly extremes of poverty and wealth – and how the two come together to destroy what’s best about the city.

Philby’s characters are very well drawn and it’s quite easy to visualise them. On the face of it, they are quite different, but they do have shared values. Both women are outsiders, and slow to trust others. Theirs is a relationship of respect, despite the fact that Madeleine is twice Ramona’s age.

Once you get to the meat of the plot, the tension rises sharply and the danger increases exponentially. Madeleine also starts to suspect that there’s something going on in SCID that no-one is willing to tell her and that just serves to make her suspicious of pretty much everyone.

Ramona, too has things on her mind, but she is a risk taker and will put herself in danger in order to catch some pretty bad guys. I felt that the ending was a little rushed, but all the loose ends do get satisfactorily tied up.

Dirty Money is an excellent start to a new detective partnership – almost a female version of ‘the Odd Couple’, which I’m sure will go from strength to strength.

Ramona Chang was an investigating journalist but is now a private detective, in hiding, in a run down flat.
Her latest job is investigating a upper class escort agency.
Detective Sergeant Madeline Farrow is investigating global corruption when she meets Ramona again.
Can they work together to bring justice to those who need it.

First in the series and I'm afraid to say I couldn't connect with this one.

A slow burner that I found myself struggling to engage with and I just couldn't gel with the characters.

A crime thriller with two strong female leads. Madeleine Farrow comes from a wealthy family but works in law enforcement dealing with the worse type of criminals. Ramona Chang was a journalist but is hoping to solve her first case as a private investigator.
Ramona 's client is a student; while Madeleine is chasing the family of a jailed Kazakh oligarch who her team believe are money laundering.
A great read by an author who should know all about espionage.

This felt very much like the introduction to the proposed series giving much background to the characters . It is based round two separate incidents that bring the main characters Ramona and Madeleine together. It was a very slow lead in to a potentially dynamic duo of sleuths

A fast paced, well plotted book with full rounded characters who I quickly became quite invested in. I hope there will be a sequel so that we get to go on another adventure with Ramona, the ex drug addict and ex investigative journalist together with the stylish Madeline who although just turned 50 has the energy and determination to hunt down criminals in her job. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

Back in 2019, I read Charlotte Philby's The Most Difficult Thing and that tale really did not grip me and, 5 years later, I came across Dirty Money and felt I should see what had changed.

Sadly, like that first book, it really did not hang together for me and left me wondering when the introduction would end and I would get to the actual story. I did read the whole book and had the same thought when it ended. My 3 star rating should be considered as neutral and I hope you get more from this book than I did.

Two very different female detectives on two very different investigations meet when their paths coincidently cross on the steps of the LSE. Madeline Farrow (50) is a career Detective Sergeant in the Serious Crimes Investigation Department, a small specialist section of the Met. She is from an affluent background, a politically prominent family. Ramona Chang (28) is a former investigative journalist, but is now a rookie Private Investigator, a former alcoholic living under an alias because she is at risk from a criminal gang which she had exposed. Madeline is currently investigating an international money laundering family based in Kazakhstan and London. Ramona is working to identify a probable rapist using a ‘dating agency’ as a cover. There is no connection between these two cases. However, when the two women bump into each other, Madeline remembers that they had briefly met the year before, and that Ramona is an experienced undercover investigator. She proposes that they help each other; Ramona going undercover as a paid operative for the SCID and Madeline using police resources to find the rapist. Ramona needs money so agrees, although the balance of risks is obviously against her.
This is the first in a proposed series, using a character, Ramona, from an earlier book. Madeline is a new creation and has an extensive backstory. The two investigations remain separate, but the money laundering plot dominates. “Show don’t tell” is a maxim for writers but the early part of this story, in which Madeline and her world are elaborated, is bit more on the “tell” side, which makes it a slow and not very thrilling read. The pace does pick up eventually as Ramona’s trajectory is increasingly tension filled as her actions lead her into jeopardy on more than one occasion. In fact I surprised myself by being concerned for her in a concrete rather than abstract way. Madeline, although she has her problems (lesbian love affairs, cabinet minister brother, uncaring boss) is not as exciting. This is somewhat surprising given her adventurous backstory. Perhaps we’ll hear more of her in the next book. The book is also a paean to London, with descriptions taking up quite a bit of space. I’m not sure if this is just padding or if it speaks to character, but I did enjoy Ramona’s walk from Kings Cross along to and through Camden (maybe because I have walked it). As to rating, well it isn’t perfect but it has its moments. On balance 3.5 rounding to 4.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I fancied this story from the blurb, but I found it a bit boring and I wasn't really gripped with it.

Long character introductions that seemed like maybe I'd read such before .. Ramona.. ,really unconvincing as recovered addict (!!!) and Madeline, top flight international investigator for a govt agency .. who is back from working Vietnam, and also, a gay woman (well, that's requisite in crime and thrillers these days) .. both of them have requisite smudges on their characters therefore..( lesbianism is considered as interesting as recovered addict, eh?) .. I didn't feel Madelines credentials as govt agent, or Ramona's skills as PI despite her journo background were credible tbh .. but I do rate Philby's talent as novelist .. maybe next in series will settle into more ease with these characters .. more sense of their abilities being authentic as we feel more confident about their being recognisable humans.. without highlighting the features that are 'different' about them .. but, in fact, rather with what amount to genre cliche (have I been reading too many crime stories?) .. anyway .. I hope it all settles down and takes off!! Very promising reading ahead ...

I recently read The End of Summer by Charlotte Philby which I’d enjoyed so was keen to request and read her newest thriller on NetGalley.

I think it is fair to say that Dirty Money surpassed my expectations! I devoured the book in a couple of days and loved the fast paced plot and two main characters: Ramona and Madeleine.

A former investigative journalist for a London paper, newly single Ramona now works as a freelance private investigator, hoping to gain work via ads on the internet. Through her investigation into an escort service, she teams up with Madeline Farrow who has returned to London from working in Vietnam. The two continue to dig around the escort company as well as a wealthy family who are suspected of money laundering.

I found both Ramona and Madeleine, whilst very different characters, to be utterly convincing and hope this is the first of a series of many. It is the best page turner I’ve read in a while and I can totally see it being adapted for TV. The action manages to deal with issues that are realistic and believable without feeling cliched.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. It is the first that I have read by Charlotte Philby. I had been interested in the blurb for the book with 2 very different main characters, Ramona a journalist, turned Private Investigator, and Madeline, a Detective in the Serious Crime department. The story is told through the eyes of each character. This meant the story is slow to unfold as each character appeared to be working on different lines and didn't connect with each other. It took me a good way in to understand their differences and relationship. However, it was also confusing, as the chapters do not focus on one character only and when reading it the next paragraph can be in a completely different place. Towards the end of the book I felt that the characters had come to life and I can see how they may work together in future books, as this is book 1 of a series. The book is set in London, with lots of descriptions about the routes taken to locations etc, this slows the story. I'm not sure how helpful that is.
I will look out for the next in the series to see if these two women work well together on future cases.

I really had high hopes for this novel and, although I enjoyed it, it didn't quite hit the ground running for me in the way I wanted it to. I think the initial premise really interested me, and I did enjoy the crime aspect of the novel of course. I think the pace of the novel was a lot slower than I normally enjoy crime novels to be and this impacted my enthusiasm for the narrative. I liked the characters, but it wasn't enough for me to love this novel.