Description

BASED ON THE LONG-RUNNING BBC RADIO 4 McLEVY DRAMA SERIES

…WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVY
ELEGANT AND CONVINCING’ The Times | ‘ASHTON IS THE DIRECT HEIR TO ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON’ Brian Cox | ‘EXCELLENT’ The Sherlock Holmes Society | ‘DRIPPING WITH MELODRAMA AND DERRING-DO’ Herald

1887. The streets of Edinburgh seethe with anarchy as two gangs of students rival each other in wild exploits. After a pitched battle between them, an old woman is found savagely battered to death in Leith Harbour.
Enter the Thieftaker – Inspector Jame McLevy. With Constable Mulholland at his side, he scours the low dives of the waterfront and then sees the tendrils of the case spread to more respectable nooks and crannies.
When the inspector encounters Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in the city to bury his deceased father, the two recognise each other as fellow travellers, observers of the dark side of human nature and both hopeless insomniacs.
Glimpses of the murderer indicate a slender, androgynous figure with a silver cane, which is used to lethal effect. A dancing killer non unlike Mr Edward Hyde.

THE INSPECTOR MCLEVY SERIES
1 – Shadow of the Serpent
2 – Fall from Grace
3 – A Trick of the Light
4 – Nor Will He Sleep

Publisher Review

PRAISE FOR THE INSPECTOR McLEVY SERIES Mclevy is a sort of Victorian Morse with a heart, prowling the mean wynds and tenements of the endlessly fascinating city. David Ashton impeccably evokes Edinburgh so vividly that you feel the cold in your bones and the menace of the Old Town's steep cobbles and dark corners * Financial Times * An intriguing Victorian story... elegant and convincing * The Times * McLevy is one of the greatest psychological creations and Ashton the direct heir to Robert Louis Stevenson * Brian Cox, CBE - Award-winning actor * David Ashton's writing is excellent, his characters thoroughly convincing and his narrative grabs you * The Sherlock Holmes Society * Ashton's McLevy is a man obsessed with meting out justice and with demons of his own * Scotsman * A real page-turner * Sunday Post * Dripping with melodrama and derring-do * Herald *