The first new series in two decades from multi-award-winning international bestseller Mark Billingham that introduces Detective Miller – a man who’s unique, unconventional, and criminally underestimated.

Maverick sleuth Declan Miller is back at work following the murder of his wife (and amateur ballroom dancing partner) Alex. Working with new partner and heavy metal enthusiast DS Sara Xiu, he is tasked with investigating the double killing of gangland family scion Adrian Cutler and IT consultant Barry Shepherd at the Sands Hotel. Initial evidence suggests a hired gun and a botched job.

The search for the hitman begins and Miller begins to reconnect with his old network – his ballroom dancing friends, homeless informant Finn, and even the ghost of his wife who keeps showing up in his kitchen. The fact Alex had been investigating the Cutler family prior to her death complicates things, and as Miller gets closer to the truth, he realises the danger is walking right up to his doorstep…

My Review

If you had to work with Detective Declan Miller in real life he’d be a total twat (can I use that word?). He’d drive you round the bend. Making a joke out of everything and coming out with irritating one-liners which new partner Sara Xiu doesn’t get.

‘A lot of men sleep around,’ Xiu said.
‘A lot of men who aren’t married to Michelle Cutler. She’s almost certainly got ‘hitman’ in her phone book somewhere. Right between ‘hairdresser’ and ‘homeopath’.’
‘I’m not convinced.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Miller said. ‘I doubt she has a homeopath.’

Miller’s wife Alex, also a police officer, was shot six weeks ago and Miller still talks to her and listens to her voice on the answerphone. They had two pet rats called Fred and Ginger. Yes, you guessed it, named after the famous dancers of yesteryear, because Miller and Alex had a hobby – ballroom dancing. And they were getting really good at it before Alex was killed.

Miller has returned to work (too early most people think) and is called out to investigate a double murder, execution style, in adjoining rooms in a less than salubrious hotel. There appears to be no connection between the victims – one was a member of the Cutlers’ gangland family, the other was an IT Consultant called Barry.

Did the killer shoot Barry, realise they’d made a mistake, and go on to kill Adrian Cutler? It couldn’t be that simple could it? Miller is determined to get to the bottom of it in his own inimitable way.

In order to do so he has to visit, not just the Cutlers, but also another ‘gangster’ Ralph Massey at the Majestic Ballroom and a prostitute (you are not allowed to call them that these days) called Scarlett Ribbons. He enlists the help of homeless girl Finn, his ballroom dancing mates (who are a bit like the Thursday Murder Club), and an ex-crim nicknamed ‘Chesshead’.

This was such fun! Miller is endlessly irritating, Xiu has secrets yet to be revealed, and who killed Alex?

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. The interaction with my fellow readers was a big part of the enjoyment.

About the Author

Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for Crime Novel of the Year, and has also won a Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British writer. Each of the novels featuring Detective Inspector Tom Thorne has been a Sunday Times bestseller. Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Thorne, and a series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death was broadcast on BBC1. Mark lives in north London with his wife and two children.