'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph
From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the seventh instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series
Love and need make unexpected bedfellows, and both are blind. As the grip of a long hard winter tightens on Lydmouth, a dead woman calls the dying in a seance behind net curtains. Two provincial newspapers are in the throes of a bitter circulation war. A lorry-driver broods, and an office boy loses his heart.
Britain is basking in the warm glow of post-war tranquillity, but in the quiet town of Lydmouth, darker forces are at play. The rats are fed on bread and milk, a gentleman's yellow kid glove is mislaid on a train, and something disgusting is happening at Mr Prout's toyshop.
Returning to a town shrouded in intrigue and suspicion, Jill Francis becomes acting editor of the Gazette. Meanwhile, there's no pleasure left in the life of Detective Chief Inspector Richard Thornhill. Only a corpse, a television set and the promise of trouble to come.
'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times
'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid
'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out
'Andrew Taylor's latest addition to his "Lydmouth" murder series perfectly evokes that innocent world of the 1950s. The book is wonderfully redolent of that era, except that it has psychological depth instead of Christie-type cliches. Taylor builds a gripping story, as redolent of the period as brown linoleum. His subtle exploration of provincial society, with its gruesome underbelly, makes this a powerful extension to the series.' - Independent
How skilfully he recreates the atmosphere of the time through innuendo, attitude and detail rather than dogged description . . . Taylor is the master of small lives writ large (Frances Fyfield, Express on The Suffocating Night)
'This is top of the class. Taylor's re-creation of the 1950s is absolutely convincing.' - Sue Baker's Top 10 crime & thriller titles, Publishing News
The most underrated crime writer in Britain today (Val McDermid)
Andrew Taylor is one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting novelist writing on crime in England today (Harriet Waugh, Spectator)
Taylor is an excellent writer (The Times)
The people depicted here are real and believable and the drabness and genteel facade of Fifties England is skilfully brought to life. Taylor is, as always, adept at showing the reality beneath the surface (Sunday Telegraph)
CALL THE DYING is expert, ingenious and absorbing, with its eye trained on horizons lying in wait (Spectator)
Full of nostalgic detail, this is old-fashion crime at its best (The Times)
