Sympathy for the Devil

In the fourth Breen & Tozer, William Shaw marries a gripping police procedural with an espionage plot to bring the series to a stunning and moving climax.

SUMMER OF LOVE

She made a profit from her youth. She's not beautiful anymore - but she will be young forever.

Called away from his pregnant girlfriend, Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen knows the sight of the murdered prostitute will be with him all his life. But this is what he does: he finds killers. Helen Tozer, more than most, understands why.

SUMMER OF DEATH

The girl they called Julie Teenager had a client list full of suspects - all rich, powerful - and protected. Someone warns off the beat coppers; someone disturbs the crime scene. Breen begins to fear that this is more than the murder of a prostitute. It's political.

Then Helen, with her ex-copper's instincts and fierce moral sense, gets dangerously involved. And Breen knows he has more to lose than ever before. He is about to become a father. He can have no sympathy for the devil.

Breen and Tozer met through murder. They work in a world before forensics or criminal databases; a world that's bigoted and brutal. Tense, dramatic and ingeniously plotted, Sympathy for the Devil is a gripping police thriller that delivers crime with a conscience.

‘What a pleasure it is when one discovers a writer who combines ironclad storytelling techniques with the linguistic finesse of more literary novelists. William Shaw is surely such a writer, a man whose command of narrative grips the reader by the throat from page one, and never lets go’ - Independent, on The Birdwatcher

‘A gripping plot, atmospheric setting, highly believable characters and dialogue you can imagine real people saying, make this a contender for thriller of the year’ – The Sun, on The Birdwatcher

‘A first-rate police thriller set amidst the seamy underside of the swinging sixties’ - C. J. Sansom, on A Song from Dead Lips

‘A gripping story, impeccably researched’ - Guardian, on A Song from Dead Lips

‘Superb crime novels . . . an emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Crime Book of the Month - Sunday Times on A Book of Scars