Scorched Earth

Detective McAvoy investigates a murder and a missing person case in this dark and compelling thriller, for fans of Stuart MacBride and Peter May.

The police think Crystal Heathers isn't missing.

The trainee detective assigned to the case isn't so sure.

McAvoy thinks someone was being held at the derelict building where they just found a body pinned to the wall...and that all the signs point to it being a little girl.

But why would anyone not report a kidnapping?

And how far would someone go to get revenge?

The case will test McAvoy to breaking point - as the crimes of the present lead him to a final violent confrontation with an enemy from his own past.

“Praise for David Mark - -Breathtaking. Mark writes bad beautifullyMore twists and turns than a corkscrew through the eyeballAficionados of the grittiest, most trenchant fare love Mark's copper Aector McAvoy, who customarily moves in a darkly realised Hull. - Financial TimesMark's rich, distinctive prose style and damaged characters compel you to keep reading... shaping up to be an essential crime series - Crime Scene MagazineIn McAvoy, David Mark has created a big hero with a huge heart. His skill at weaving threads of light through the darkest fabric has rightly won him a legion of fans who like their crime fiction to be real and compassionate.Truly exhilarating and inventive. Mark is a wonderfully descriptive writer and an exciting young talent.Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order - Daily Mail”

Praise for David Mark - -

Breathtaking. Mark writes bad beautifully

More twists and turns than a corkscrew through the eyeball

Aficionados of the grittiest, most trenchant fare love Mark's copper Aector McAvoy, who customarily moves in a darkly realised Hull. - Financial Times

Mark's rich, distinctive prose style and damaged characters compel you to keep reading... shaping up to be an essential crime series - Crime Scene Magazine

In McAvoy, David Mark has created a big hero with a huge heart. His skill at weaving threads of light through the darkest fabric has rightly won him a legion of fans who like their crime fiction to be real and compassionate.

Truly exhilarating and inventive. Mark is a wonderfully descriptive writer and an exciting young talent.

Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order - Daily Mail

David spent more than fifteen years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with the Yorkshire Post - walking the Hull streets that would later become the setting for the Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy novels.

He has written eight novels in the McAvoy series: Dark Winter, Original Skin, Sorrow Bound, Taking Pity, Dead Pretty, Cruel Mercy, and Scorched Earth as well as two McAvoy ebook short stories, A Bad Death and Fire of Lies. Dark Winter was selected for the Harrogate New Blood panel and was a Richard & Judy pick and a Sunday Times bestseller. In 2018 it was adapted for the stage at the Hull Truck Theatre and had a sellout debut run. David has also written The Zealot's Bones, a historical crime novel published under the name D.M. Mark.

He lives in the north of England with his family.

Detective McAvoy investigates a murder and a missing person case in this dark and compelling thriller, for fans of Stuart MacBride and Peter May. The police think Crystal Heathers isn't missing. The trainee detective assigned to the case isn't so sure. McAvoy thinks someone was being held at the derelict building where they just found a body pinned to the wall...and that all the signs point to it being a little girl. But why would anyone not report a kidnapping?And how far would someone go to get revenge?The case will test McAvoy to breaking point - as the crimes of the present lead him to a final violent confrontation with an enemy from his own past.

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