A curious scheme is afoot in Blighty. Attempting to tackle spiralling levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, the government has a new solution: to dye offenders purple.

For once, even journalist Eve Baxter is shocked – she's spent years gathering the world's weird and wacky news, but has never seen anything as loopy as this. Learning of these shamed 'bruises on society', the nation is agog – and divided. There's anger and agreement, protest and debate. Oh, green and pleasant and now purple land...

But still, there's a mystery to be solved: just how do the transformations to Purpleness occur? Transfixed by clues and conspiracies, Eve wonders if this could be her route into real news. And when her friends and family are affected by the Purple scheme, she begins to investigate...