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Crime Song

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781473618206

Price: £14.99

ON SALE: 4th May 2017

Genre: Fiction & Related Items / Crime & Mystery

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David Swinson returns with a thrillingly dark novel, featuring Frank Marr, ‘a masterly piece of characterisation.’ (Tana French, author of The Trespasser)

Frank Marr was a good cop with a bad habit, until his addiction to cocaine forced him into retirement from the D.C. police. Now barely making a living as a private investigator, he agrees to take on a family case as a favour for his aunt.

Frank’s surveillance confirms that his cousin Jeffrey is involved with a drugs operation. It seems small, until Frank’s own home is burgled, leaving a body on the kitchen floor: Jeffrey. Frank’s .38 revolver – the murder weapon – is stolen, along with his cherished music collection.

Clearly, his cousin was deeper in the underworld than anyone realised. With his reputation and his own life on the line, Frank searches for the real culprit: following the stolen goods through a tangled network of petty thieves, desperate addicts, deceiving fences, good cops and bad cops.

Frank’s as determined to uncover the truth as he is to feed his habit, and both pursuits could prove deadly. This time, it may just be a question of what gets him first.

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Reviews

Praise for The Second Girl
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Imagine Philip Marlowe upped and transplanted to contemporary Washington with a mountain of stolen coke hidden in a secret safe rather than a bottle of bourbon in his desk drawer, and you're close to Frank Marr, the winningly debauched private investigator hero of this gritty thriller...A complex, vulnerable but brilliant creation, with a unique personal morality, his spare narration is laced with wry humour but entirely lacking in self-pity.
Crime Scene Magazine
A down-and-dirty thriller with real heart from an author who knows what he's talking about. This is firmly in George Pelecanos territory and it doesn't get much better than that.
Mark Billingham
David Swinson pulls off a masterly piece of characterization...The writing throws sparks, and the ferocious plot peels back layer after layer of Frank's character as we - and he - find out how much of his humanity is still left.
Tana French
Marr is one of the most compelling and complex protagonists to come along in years. And, not content with just creating a memorable hero, author Swinson also offers up a breakneck plot...Reminiscent of The Wire and the writing of George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, The Second Girl is a winner.
Jeffery Deaver
A gripping, authentic tale (the author is an ex-cop) of a man's journey into the heart of darkness that will appeal to fans of The Wire
Shortlist
David Swinson is one of the most exciting new voices to come along in crime fiction in this decade, and CRIME SONG is Exhibit A of his remarkable talent. Swinson's writing is heartfelt, powerful, and authentic, and Frank Marr is as fully rendered as any detective in recent memory.
Michael Koryta, bestselling author of RISE THE DARK
A non-stop drive through American crime, punishment and even an alley or two of justice.
James Grady, author of <i>Six Days of the Condor