For readers of Charlie Gallagher, James Patterson, Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, and Robert Bryndza.

THE DETECTIVE

DC Rutherford Barnes is young, good-looking, and ambitious – perhaps too ambitious for his own good. His all-consuming desire for promotion makes him vulnerable to temptation. His happy marriage to nursery school teacher Eve is marred only by the couple’s inability to conceive, leading Barnes to throw himself headlong into his work.

THE SETTING

Set against the picturesque landscape of the South Downs, the Sussex seaside town of Eastbourne is packed with tourists during the summer – but it can seem pretty dismal during the winter months. Only fifty-odd miles from London, the town is not immune to the violence which occasionally spills over from the city. Pockets of deprivation and criminality exist alongside reminders of Eastbourne’s more genteel past in the grand Victorian hotels that line the seafront, the pier, and the bandstand. The town also boasts one of Britain’s best-known – and most infamous – beauty spots, Beachy Head.

DEVIL’S CHIMNEY (BOOK 1) – JUNE 2022, 406 pp.

• #12 Amazon AUS
• #29 Amazon UK

Nobody at Sussex Police wants to be PC Harriet ‘HRH’ Holden’s partner. She’s a bit stuck up, a stickler for the rules; she rubs people up the wrong way. It’s only PC Rutherford Barnes who’s happy to work with her. Although they’re not friends exactly, he shares Harriet’s ambition and idealism. He respects her.

So, when Harriet’s battered body is found in a shabby bedroom at the down-at- hell Atlantic Hotel on Eastbourne seafront, Barnes determines to seek justice for his colleague. He sets out to discover who killed Harriet, and why.

As the newly-promoted DC Barnes investigates, he discovers that Harriet had a secret – and she knew the secrets of others. As Barnes uncovers a layer of corruption that leads right to the very top, he faces a terrible decision: justice for Harriet – or his police career.