DARK, GRIPPING AND UNEXPECTED

An Argentinian DCI in the heart of middle England brings a thoughtful outsider's viewpoint to a murder that has troubling links to unsolved crimes from the past. Guillermo Downes's intelligent, intuitive policework keeps the pages turning

An intriguing debut . . . the plot [has] a strength and texture that help set it apart . . . Taut and told with panache, it ushers in a suitably spiky police hero

Marrison's tense debut expertly evokes a sense of place . . . the highly unusual denouement will catch most readers by surprise

A gripping thriller . . . a readable, complex tale, astutely paced . . . If the mark of a good whodunnit is that you can't actually guess whodunnit, then The Drowning Ground does its job well. Despite following the plot closely, I was still taken aback by the denouement

With an intricate plot with numerous twists and an intriguing cop with a complex history, Marrison rivets the reader straight through to the novel's chilling conclusion. An author to watch, he scores high with this impressive debut

An assured début which promises much for the future

So many characters with so many secrets and deviant behaviours make this début mystery by James Marrison a real winner. The author's complex plotting, haunted characters, and gorgeous descriptions of winter are an absolute joy to read even as the action takes one suspenseful turn, then another and then another to an unexpected denouement. When it seems as though all the clues have been resolved, Marrison saves one last shocking revelation for the final chapter.. . . Expertly setting us up for the next chapter in the series ( I can't wait!), Marrison writes lovingly of his new hero, Guillermo Downes, a detective plagued by demons both internal and external yet determined to expose murder most foul whenever and wherever he can

A masterful novel . . . The protagonists are wonderfully portrayed. Downes is a bit of a mystery, a man born in Buenos Aires of a Argentinian mother and an English father. What led him to leave his homeland and make a life for himself in this small English town? Perhaps the answer will be revealed in the next novel in the series, something I'm eagerly anticipating

Move over Morse

Exerts an inexorable grip

This is addictive, intelligent entertainment of the highest order... It is an astonishingly stringent, well executed and actually almost without exception breathlessly suspenseful psychological thriller bar none

Impressive and terrifying

Insanely creepy psycho-thriller that places the thin veneer of normality under the microscope.

The Crow Girl is a psychological thriller that will take you to the darkest corners of human insanity

First-class thriller for readers with nerves of steel

What an outstanding debut… A must-read for any fan of Scandinavian crime fiction.

The characterisation is always totally convincing....The denouement is exciting and totally surprising to the reader...a thrilling and unexpected ending.

Searing and affecting psychological thriller… A terrific thriller, chilling but oddly tender.

Mr. Hayes’s globe-trotting book has more kicks, twists and winks than anything of its dusty genre has provided in a long time. You will be happily surprised to find a new thriller franchise with brains to match its brawn

Written in a heart-stopping pace, this literary thriller lands somewhere between Homeland and Breaking Bad and then transports you to a different level. It is part spy novel, part psychological thriller. Twists and turns. Emotionally complex characters. Relevant geopolitical issues.

An assured novel: well researched and vivid, with a strong plotline, delivered with verve and some appealing wry humour.

A vivid sense of history and locale

Meticulously researched and delivered in clear, lucid and intelligent prose, Mukherjee is a fantastic addition to the stable of international crime writers, whose books effortlessly cross boundaries and bind readers in a community of excellence and enjoyment.

Vividly described, full of humour and humanity, it's a wonderful picture of that time and world, as well as being a perfect murder mystery novel.

Bursting with lively historical details about post-World War I India, this is a stirring and entertaining mystery

This brilliant mingling of real history and fictional invention kicks off a series that does for the Raj what Philip Kerr did for the Reich