Account

Company

  Menu

Description

The perfect murder mystery for fans of Richard Osman and Robert Thorogood.

'Spotswood understands that [... ] spending time with unforgettable characters is paramount.' - New York Times

'A loving, intricately plotted tribute to the great days of American noir.' - Daily Mail

New York, 1946: The last time Will Parker let a case get personal, she walked away with a broken face, a bruised ego, and the solemn promise never again to let her heart get in the way of her job. But she called Hart and Halloway's Travelling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus's tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go.

To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren't playing it straight, and that her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink.

Dodging fistfights, firebombs, and flying lead, Will puts a lot more than her heart on the line in the search of the truth. Can she find it before someone stops her ticker for good?

Praise for Stephen Spotswood:

'Razor-sharp, tons of flair. A really good noir novel.' Tana French

'Spotswood's stellar debut puts a modern spin on classic hard-boiled fiction... The deep and sensitive characterization of the two protagonists, coupled with rich description and tonally spot-on humour, make this a novel to remember. Spotswood is definitely a writer to watch.' Publishers Weekly

'This novel not only offers fun, offbeat characters and an exceptional flavour of the time, it's utterly charming too.' Woman's Weekly

'This hugely enjoyable debut is a deft melange of Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery and 1940s Chandler-esque pulp crime fiction with a feisty narrator' Irish Independent Review

'Persuasive in its attention to period detail and dialogue, with well-constructed set piece scenes deftly staged, this is a highly accomplished, auspicious first entry in what we must hope will be a long-running series' The Irish Times
Show Less

Show More

Tag This Book

This Book Has Been Tagged
It hasn't. Be the first to tag this book!

Our Recommendation

Get It This book is at its lowest price within the past year.

Notify Me When The Price...

  • If I'm already tracking this book

to track this book on eReaderIQ.

Track These Authors

to track Stephen Spotswood on eReaderIQ.

  • to be notified each time the price drops on any book by Stephen Spotswood.
  • to stop tracking Stephen Spotswood.

Price Summary

  • We started tracking this book on January 15, 2022.
  • This book was £4.99 when we started tracking it.
  • The price of this book has changed 11 times in the past 1,280 days.
  • The current price of this book is £2.99 last checked 11 hours ago.
  • This book is at its lowest price in the past year.
  • The lowest price to date was £0.99 last reached on September 1, 2022.
  • This book has been £0.99 one time since we started tracking it.
  • The highest price to date was £5.49 last reached on April 3, 2025.
  • This book has been £5.49 one time since we started tracking it.

Genres

Additional Info

  • Publication Date: December 7, 2021
  • Text-to-Speech: Disabled
  • Lending: Disabled
  • Print Length: 369 Pages
  • File Size: 24 KB
Created with Highstock 4.2.6Zoom1m3m6m1yAllPrices since March 18th, 2023Comedy Writing 4 Life18. Jun20. Jun22. Jun24. Jun26. Jun28. Jun30. Jun2. Jul4. Jul6. Jul8. Jul10. Jul12. Jul14. Jul16. JulJul '23Jan '24Jul '24Jan '25Jul …Jul '25£3.75£4.00£4.25£4.50£4.75£5.00

We last verified the price of this book about 11 hours ago. At that time, the price was £2.99. This price is subject to change. The price displayed on the Amazon.co.uk website at the time of purchase is the price you will pay for this book. Please confirm the price before making any purchases.