‘An outstanding series’ – NEW YORK TIMES

Detective Inspector Bill Slider and his team investigate the murder of a local philanthropist in the sixteenth entry in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ critically acclaimed crime series.

Lionel Bygood – who looks, to all intents and purposes, like an old-fashioned sort of gentleman – has been bashed in the head with a bronze statue, in what Doc Cameron describes as ‘our old friend the Frenzied Attack’.

The murder comes – much to Bill Slider’s family’s disgust – during his week off, saving him from the horrors of a trip to the shopping centre with his two older children.

As Slider commences his investigation, it soon emerges that Mr Bygood was a philanthropist, well-known locally for giving help and advice to all who needed it, from all walks of life.

But with all signs pointing to the victim knowing his killer, Slider and his team find themselves embroiled in an investigation that provides scant evidence or possible motive, but all too many suspects . . .

Written with Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ signature sharp plotting and dry wit, this hard-hitting character-driven mystery is a must-read police procedural for fans of Mick Herron, Ann Cleeves and Peter Robinson.

Praise for the Bill Slider series:

‘Slider and his creator are real discoveries’
Daily Mail

‘Sharp, witty and well-plotted’
Times

‘Harrod-Eagles and her detective hero form a class act. The style is fast, funny and furious – the plotting crisply devious’
Irish Times