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
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