Icelight

1947. Threadbare London endures the bleakest, coldest winter for decades. Food rationing is worse than during the war. Coal supplies run out. The Thames freezes over. Against a background of black ice, blackouts and the black market, agent Peter Cotton is seconded to Operation Sea-snake. MI5 is in the grip of civil war; MI6 is riddled with traitors. Unsure who to trust - or even who is pulling the strings - Cotton, ever the outsider, must protect an atomic scientist caught up in a vicious homophobic witch-hunt, limit the damage caused by a bully-boy MP, rely on a rent-boy informer and, despite the murderous attentions of a couple of Glasgow razor boys, embark on a ruthless hunt of his own.

Winner of CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award 2012 (UK)

“"Will remind many of le Carr”

Confirms Aly Monroe's genius for creating such tension that, while nothing much happens, you don't want things to stop not happening. She's commercial writing's rarest beast - a gloriously defiant individualist - Daily Telegraph

Monroe is terrific at evoking this world - Guardian

Monroe conjures up an atmosphere as thick as the fog in grim, austere post-war London - Mail on Sunday

Monroe creates the atmosphere of the time brilliantly . . . an original novel and its people and places are so well described that I was gripped from start to finish - Literary Review

A wonderfully atmospheric book - Euro Crime

Once again, Monroe's research is spot on and she paints her supporting cast with so many shades of grey that it makes a John Le Carr? novel look positively straightforward. This is wonderfully atmospheric - Shots Magazine

Dodgy underhand dealings, political manipulations as well as a labyrinth of twists and turns... Definitely an author to watch - Falcata Times

Riveting stuff - The Times

Aly Monroe was born and educated in England. Trained in linguistics, she has lived abroad - mostly in Spain - and speaks several languages. She is married and has three children. The first two books in the Peter Cotton series, Maze of Cadiz and Washington Shadow are also available from John Murray. You can find out more about Peter Cotton and Aly Monroe via her website, or at , through her official facebook page at Aly, and you can follow her on Twitter at _aly.

1947. Threadbare London endures the bleakest, coldest winter for decades. Food rationing is worse than during the war. Coal supplies run out. The Thames freezes over. Against a background of black ice, blackouts and the black market, agent Peter Cotton is seconded to Operation Sea-snake. MI5 is in the grip of civil war; MI6 is riddled with traitors. Unsure who to trust - or even who is pulling the strings - Cotton, ever the outsider, must protect an atomic scientist caught up in a vicious homophobic witch-hunt, limit the damage caused by a bully-boy MP, rely on a rent-boy informer and, despite the murderous attentions of a couple of Glasgow razor boys, embark on a ruthless hunt of his own.

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