In New Orleans, Texas Ranger John Q is out of his jurisdiction, and possibly out of his depth. After a series of murders it seems that every time he asks questions there's trouble. But who could be trying to set him up, and why, and who can he turn to in a city where loyalties and family ties rule?

Infused with the rhythms of its iconic setting, The Contract is a thriller which keeps you gripped and guessing all the way to its endgame.

In The Long Count, the first book of JM Gulvin's masterful new crime series, we meet Ranger John Quarrie as he is called to the scene of an apparent suicide by a fellow war veteran. Although the local police want the case shut down, John Q is convinced that events aren't quite so straightforward. When his hunch is backed up by the man's son, Isaac - just back from Vietnam, and convinced his father was murdered - they start to look into a series of other violent incidents in the area, including a recent fire at the local Trinity Asylum and the disappearance of Isaac's twin brother, Ishmael. In a desperate race against time, John Q has to try and unravel the dark secrets at the heart of this family and get to the truth before the count is up... Dripping with atmosphere and a sense of time and place, The Long Count is a page-turner and a psychological puzzle - for fans of Shutter Island and True Detective.

A page-turning psychological puzzle for fans of Shutter Island and True Detective 'The detail is unerring ... and this magisterial grasp of time and place lends the story vivid veracity. The characters leap off the page and the plotting is faultless.' JOHN BOORMAN (Director of Point Blank and Deliverance) 'I loved this book: it has such a subtle sense of place, the clear writing pulls you in right from the start, and its ingenious plot line is both shocking and inevitable.' ANN CLEEVES In the late 1960s, with America at war in Vietnam, John Q is an old school Texas Ranger - a gun on each hip and quick on the draw. Called to the apparent suicide of a fellow war veteran, John Q suspects all is not as it seems, and very soon faces a desperate race across state as he starts to uncover just how dark some secrets can be.