One sentence summary: An insecure portrait artist forms an unlikely partnership with a mute autistic child to solve a murder.

In True Image, aspiring artist and amateur detective Maud Gibbons receives her first major portrait commission. She should be ecstatic. The fee secured by her new agent is extraordinary, but Maud soon realizes it's no ordinary commission. Her client has enough status and wealth to get whatever she wants. And what the eccentric Mrs. Veronica Barrington wants is to have her portrait painted from life by a talented female artist willing to live and work at Altica, her summer estate. When death comes to Altica, it's not money but the combined talents of an amateur detective and an autistic twelve-year-old girl with super powers, that uncovers the truth among the lies.

Susan Statham received the inaugural Medli Award for True Image – a story that brings together a portrait artist and autistic child to solve a murder. Seven judges within the literary professions and five avid readers chose True Image as the manuscript most likely to succeed in captivating a reader.