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Published May 2013
400 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
The British Midlands. It's called the "Black Country" for a reason. Bad things happen there.
When members of a prominent family disappear from a coal-mining village - and a human eyeball is discovered in a bird's nest - the local constable sends for help from Scotland Yard's new Murder Squad. Fresh off the grisly 1889 murders of The Yard, Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith respond, but they have no idea what they're about to get into. The villagers have intense, intertwined histories. Everybody bears a secret. Superstitions abound. And the village itself is slowly sinking into the mines beneath it.
Not even the arrival of forensics pioneer Dr. Bernard Kingsley seems to help. In fact, the more the three of them investigate, the more they realize they may never be allowed to leave...
"Starred Review. Startling and spooky ... [a] bold melding of horror with historical elements." - Publishers Weekly
"A worthy successor to The Yard." - Barnes and Noble
"Grecian packs in almost more plot than a body can stand, but he presents with fine precision the gray and gritty atmosphere of late-Victorian England." - Kirkus
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alex Grecian was born August 6, 1969. He is the national bestselling author of the "Scotland Yard Murder Squad" novels, including The Yard, The Black Country, and the forthcoming The Devil's Workshop. After leaving a career in advertising, working on accounts that included Harley-Davidson and The Great American Smokeout, Alex returned to his first love: writing fiction. He co-created the long-running and critically acclaimed graphic novel series Proof, which NPR named one of the best books of 2009. One of the Proof storylines is set in the 1800's and inspired Alex's debut novel The Yard.
Grecian has also written an original "Murder Squad" e-book, The Blue Girl, and an original graphic novel, Seven Sons, as well as a multitude of short stories, both comics and prose, for...
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