Very dark, character-driven, slow-burn suspense … Slater explores the ethics surrounding our obsession with true crime and questions how we should handle other people's stories. This highly original, whip-smart first novel will have crime lovers second-guessing their next read." Booklist

a collaborator of the detective, suddenly disappears and Wigan doesn't care too much about what might have happened to him ... not seeing him, he thinks he will wait a few more days to look for him, even though he knows that the situation could be dangerous ... and then in reality he doesn't even look for the man! I felt Alice’s exploration of grief, and depression and mental health is an excellent piece of writing. Sensitive but raw. According to Martin Edwards in the Introduction to this reprint, original copies of the novel are much sought after and the story has cult status among book lovers. Surely that can only be because of the huge amounts of information on book collecting, bookselling and arcane books which it contains, since it could hardly be said to have appeal for lovers of stylish writing, tight plotting and solid detective investigation.A dark masterpiece of grief and obsession. It will work its way under your skin like a splinter and stay there." Catriona Ward Sergeant Wigan is a policeman working in a London suburb; one night he encounters one of these bookmen and they strike up a friendship. So when his friend is murdered, he feels a personal interest in the case. He has been learning about rare books so he is temporarily assigned to the CID to help in the investigation. A suspect is soon charged but he doesn’t believe the man guilty, so he keeps digging into the business. The plot is very sad for much of the time and it is easy to imagine which side of the death penalty debate the author came down. This made for a very credible story for much of the time. Unfortunately there was a rather strange side plot involving the occult which just seemed unnecessarily sensational to me.

A dark masterpiece of grief and obsession. It will work its way under your skin like a splinter and stay there.” Laura was equally not my favorite character. She was hard to like. Her life was spiraling, too, and she did take some of the parts of her life for granted, how easy they were, even though her life wasn't easy.

See a Problem?

I liked Roach at first, I think it really affected her, the way Laura treated her. It became an obsession to show Laura that they could become friends, that they shared a common interest although at two different polars of the same spectrum. Some of her decisions were extremely ill advised and she took on a different identity, someone more than Roach, more confidence, more outspoken, a person she wanted to be. It didn’t really work for her though, she should’ve given Laura the two-finger sign and moved on. You should always be yourself. Reading is a way of life for some customers, the kind of customers who buy more than they read, who behave as though ‘bookworm’ is as inherent as their blood type or their astrological sign.” The world of the antiquarian book trade was fascinating and a complete revelation to me. Being written and set in the 1950s also added to the appeal of this book. The historical details were fascinating and I enjoyed spending a few hours there. The language and behaviour of the characters was of its time and was at once more formal and polite – but also ruthless and cut-throat. The mystery was well written and I found myself unable to decide who to trust. I was hooked.