A Book of Scars

PEACE IS OUT. REVENGE IS ON.

'An emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year

'Unfolds a fascinatingly dark tale' Spectator

Never forgotten

Teenager Alexandra Tozer was murdered on her family's farm. Five years later, her sister Helen will return.

Never suspected

As soon as DS Breen tracks down the original investigating sergeant, the man goes missing. And so does Helen.

Never revealed

The only connection between the suspects is the Kenya Emergency - a nightmare that Englishmen prefer to forget.

But others remember. Every bloody detail. And when another woman is taken, Breen fears that history - in all its shame and horror - is coming back to haunt them.

“A Book of Scars combines nostalgic period detail with an emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction - Sunday TimesWilliam Shaw delivers a perfect motive in the third of his excellent Breen and Tozer mysteries . . . Shaw reminds us that 'brutality creates brutality', and this is true for every side of a conflict. The killer's explanatory speech, a bit perfunctory in most crime books, here unfolds a fascinatingly dark tale . . . This is a proper conspiracy thriller, with shameful secrets hidden behind government regulation. It involves real history, real people, real crimes with real consequences - Spectator A Book of Scars is both a first-rate mystery and a compelling and accurate portrait of a changing society that is confused about the present and ill-at-ease with the past - Guardian”

A Book of Scars combines nostalgic period detail with an emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction - Sunday Times

William Shaw delivers a perfect motive in the third of his excellent Breen and Tozer mysteries . . . Shaw reminds us that 'brutality creates brutality', and this is true for every side of a conflict. The killer's explanatory speech, a bit perfunctory in most crime books, here unfolds a fascinatingly dark tale . . . This is a proper conspiracy thriller, with shameful secrets hidden behind government regulation. It involves real history, real people, real crimes with real consequences - Spectator

A Book of Scars is both a first-rate mystery and a compelling and accurate portrait of a changing society that is confused about the present and ill-at-ease with the past - Guardian

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.

PEACE IS OUT. REVENGE IS ON. 'A n emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 'U nfolds a fascinatingly dark tale' Spectator Never forgotten Teenager Alexandra Tozer was murdered on her family's farm. Five years later, her sister Helen will return. Never suspected As soon as DS Breen tracks down the original investigating sergeant, the man goes missing. And so does Helen. Never revealed The only connection between the suspects is the Kenya Emergency - a nightmare that Englishmen prefer to forget. But others remember. Every bloody detail. And when another woman is taken, Breen fears that history - in all its shame and horror - is coming back to haunt them.

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