The Late Candidate (Sam Dean Thriller, Book 2)
By (Author) Mike Phillips
Book 2
HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins
4th May 2023
29th September 2022
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Classic crime and mystery fiction
Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives
Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction
Political / legal thriller
Narrative theme: Politics
Narrative theme: Social issues
823.914
Paperback
288
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 17mm
190g
A gripping, tense thriller guaranteed to keep you up all night
In 1980s London, Black political leaders who can straddle the racial divide are a rarity.
So when a rising Black politician, Aston Edwards, is murdered, the effects quickly ripple through Londons Afro-Caribbean community.
Then a young Black boy is arrested for his murder, surrounded by rumours of an affair with Astons wife.
Sammy Dean, journalist-turned-investigator, is determined to find the truth. When a Black activists death is written off as a suicide, Sam begins to think the two cases are linked. With tensions running high, can Sam find the truth before the city erupts
The Late Candidate is a gritty and authentic representation of Londons multi-cultural history, wrapped up in a tense thriller.
In this top-notch first novel The plot is hard-boiled, the mystery unfolding gradually rather than presenting itself full blown for solution. Phillips's dialogue and his protagonist's voice-over ruminations on everything from racial disharmony to foolishness on TV are spot-on, adding to the pleasure a fresh, transatlantic sensibility and inflection. Publishers Weekly
Praise for Mike Phillips
Could have come from the pen of the master, Raymond Chandler Today
Mr Phillips delivers quality The Times
Engaging pacy thriller Phillips prose in concise, witty and fluid TLS
Phillips gives a mean streetwise documentary edge to his heros hunt for a witness Sunday Express
Theres much here to suggest that Phillips could be one of our bravest, most incisive social commentators Mail on Sunday
Phillips depictions of urban London share more with Harlem and Los Angeles than the English drawing rooms of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell Financial Times
American readers willing to wonder a bit about unfamiliar London landmarks and neighbourhoods will be rewarded by Phillips's subtle psychological complexities and deadpan ironies Publishers Weekly
Mike Phillips was born in Guyana, came to Britain as a child and grew up in London. A journalist, broadcaster and university lecturer before becoming a full time writer, his series of crime fiction novels began with Blood Rights (1989), adapted for BBC television, and his reputation as a historian was established with Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain (1998). Mike writes for the Guardian, and works as Cross Cultural curator at Tate Britain.