The Suffocating Night

When squatters occupy a disused military camp near Lydmouth, public opinion is divided: do they really need shelter or are they merely unpatriotic scroungers and Communist sympathisers

When a man is found murdered in the Bathurst Arms, Detective Inspector Richard Thornhill has no shortage of suspects. One of them is Philip Wemyss-Brown, editor of the Lydmouth Gazette - and friend and employer of Jill Francis.

Once again, Jill and Richard pursue the same answers for conflicting reasons. This time, however, they have a second problem to solve, and this one is even more personal . . .

“'Taylor is an excellent writer' [The Times]'How skilfully he recreates the atmosphere of the time through innuendo, attitude and detail rather than dogged description... Taylor is the master of small lives writ large and, in the phrase coined in this era of surly pubs and poor food, he has carved a classic detective story which is deceptively calm and cool, but really smashing' [Frances Fyfield, Express]''The latest of Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series of books, in which he has so effectively created the atmosphere of the 1950s, with its genteel drabness and carefully preserved hierarchy of relationships . . . Is another satisfying read, in which the characters are as important as the events and tension develops naturally without contrivance.' [Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph]'Marvellously creepy' [Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday]”

'Taylor is an excellent writer' [The Times]

'How skilfully he recreates the atmosphere of the time through innuendo, attitude and detail rather than dogged description... Taylor is the master of small lives writ large and, in the phrase coined in this era of surly pubs and poor food, he has carved a classic detective story which is deceptively calm and cool, but really smashing' [Frances Fyfield, Express]

''The latest of Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series of books, in which he has so effectively created the atmosphere of the 1950s, with its genteel drabness and carefully preserved hierarchy of relationships . . . Is another satisfying read, in which the characters are as important as the events and tension develops naturally without contrivance.' [Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph]

'Marvellously creepy' [Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday]

A bestselling crime writer, Andrew Taylor has also worked as a boatbuilder, wages clerk, librarian, labourer and publisher's reader. He has written many prize-winning crime novels and thrillers, including the William Dougal crime series, the Lydmouth crime series, the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy - which was televised as ITV's Fallen Angel - and several standalone historical crime novels.

His many awards include the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2009 for sustained excellence in crime writing, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, and the Crime Writers' Association Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, which he has won twice - most recently for his bestselling Richard & Judy Book Club novel, The American Boy, which was also selected for The Times Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade. Bleeding Heart Square won Sweden's Martin Beck Award, the Golden Crowbar.

Andrew Taylor is also the crime fiction reviewer of the Spectator. He lives with his wife in the Forest of Dean, on the borders of England and Wales. To find out more, visit Andrew's website, www.andrew-taylor.co.uk, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewjrtaylor

When squatters occupy a disused military camp near Lydmouth, public opinion is divided: do they really need shelter or are they merely unpatriotic scroungers and Communist sympathisers When a man is found murdered in the Bathurst Arms, Detective Inspector Richard Thornhill has no shortage of suspects. One of them is Philip Wemyss-Brown, editor of the Lydmouth Gazette - and friend and employer of Jill Francis.Once again, Jill and Richard pursue the same answers for conflicting reasons. This time, however, they have a second problem to solve, and this one is even more personal . . .

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