Description

It is February 1976, and the naked corpse of a young rent boy is fished out of a pond on Hampstead Heath. Since the police don’t seem to care, twenty-year-old Tommy Wildeblood – himself a former ‘Dilly boy’ prostitute – finds himself investigating.

Dodging murderous Soho hoodlums and the agents of a more sinister power, Tommy uncovers another, even more shocking crime: the senior politician Jeremy Thorpe has ordered the murder of his former male lover. The trail of guilt seems to lead higher still, and a ruthless Establishment will stop at nothing to cover its tracks.

In a gripping thriller whose cast of real-life characters includes Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his adviser Lady Falkender, Adam Macqueen plays ‘what if’ with Seventies political history – with a sting in the tail that reminds us that the truth can be just as chilling as fiction.

Publisher Review

'After I finished writing A Very English Scandal, I took a solemn vow - that I would rather spit-roast my own offspring than read anything else about the Jeremy Thorpe Affair. Seldom have I gone back on my word with more pleasure. As boldly conceived as it is vividly realised, Beneath the Streets is a delight' - John Preston, The Critic; 'Gripping... this very English scandal has wit and invention to spare' - The Observer; 'Adam Macqueen's excellent debut thriller [has] a thoroughly likeable hero while the plot skilfully mixes fact with fiction' - Mail on Sunday; 'What if Jeremy Thorpe had succeeded in murdering Norman Scott? That's the gripping premise behind this smart story of corruption, murder and establishment cover-up' - iPaper, 40 best books of the year