Sympathy for the Devil

'Big treat in store for fans. And if you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid

SUMMER OF LOVE

She made a profit from her youth. She's not beautiful anymore - but she will be young forever.

Called away from his pregnant girlfriend, Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen knows the sight of the murdered prostitute will be with him all his life. But this is what he does: he finds killers. Helen Tozer, more than most, understands why.

SUMMER OF DEATH

The girl they called Julie Teenager had a client list full of suspects - all rich, powerful - and protected. Someone warns off the beat coppers; someone disturbs the crime scene. Breen begins to fear that this is more than the murder of a prostitute. It's political.

Then Helen, with her ex-copper's instincts and fierce moral sense, gets dangerously involved. And Breen knows he has more to lose than ever before. He is about to become a father. He can have no sympathy for the devil.

Breen and Tozer met through murder. They work in a world before forensics or criminal databases; a world that's bigoted and brutal. Tense, dramatic and ingeniously plotted, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL is a gripping police thriller that delivers crime with a conscience.

“This book contains the kind of writing - silky, seductive, unobtrusive - that carries one along. I picked the book up to get a taste of it and an hour later was still reading this clever, absorbing police procedural”

What a pleasure it is when one discovers a writer who combines ironclad storytelling techniques with the linguistic finesse of more literary novelists. William Shaw is surely such a writer, a man whose command of narrative grips the reader by the throat from page one, and never lets go - Independent, on The Birdwatcher

A gripping plot, atmospheric setting, highly believable characters and dialogue you can imagine real people saying, make this a contender for thriller of the year - Sun, on The Birdwatcher

A first-rate police thriller set amidst the seamy underside of the swinging sixties - C. J. Sansom, on A Song from Dead Lips

A gripping story, impeccably researched - Guardian, on A Song from Dead Lips

Over the course of a thrilling plot, William Shaw succeeds in recreating all the political tension and cultural upheaval of an explosive time - Figaro, on A Song from Dead Lips

An elegy for an entire alienated generation - New York Times, on A House of Knives

Superb crime novels . . . an emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Crime Book of the Month - Sunday Times on A Book of Scars

William Shaw has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, longlisted for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and nominated for a Barry Award. A regular at festivals, he organises panel talks and CWA events across the south east.

Shaw is the author of the acclaimed Breen & Tozer crime series: A Song from Dead Lips, A House of Knives, A Book of Scars and Sympathy for the Devil; and the standalone bestseller The Birdwatcher. He is writing a new crime series starring the character DS Alexandra Cupidi from The Birdwatcher, the first of which is Salt Lane. He worked as a journalist for over twenty years and lives in Brighton.

'Big treat in store for fans. And if you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid SUMMER OF LOVE She made a profit from her youth. She's not beautiful anymore - but she will be young forever.Called away from his pregnant girlfriend, Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen knows the sight of the murdered prostitute will be with him all his life. But this is what he does: he finds killers. Helen Tozer, more than most, understands why. SUMMER OF DEATH The girl they called Julie Teenager had a client list full of suspects - all rich, powerful - and protected. Someone warns off the beat coppers; someone disturbs the crime scene. Breen begins to fear that this is more than the murder of a prostitute. It's political. Then Helen, with her ex-copper's instincts and fierce moral sense, gets dangerously involved. And Breen knows he has more to lose than ever before. He is about to become a father. He can have no sympathy for the devil.Breen and Tozer met through murder. They work in a world before forensics or criminal databases; a world that's bigoted and brutal. Tense, dramatic and ingeniously plotted, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL is a gripping police thriller that delivers crime with a conscience.

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