Preserve The Dead: a tense, gripping crime novel

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'Preserve the Dead is storytelling of the highest order from one of Irish crime writing's most unassuming masters' - Irish Independent

Detective Sergeant Lucy Black is visiting her father, a patient in a secure unit in Gransha Hospital on the banks of the River Foyle. He's been hurt badly in an altercation with another patient, and Lucy is shocked to discover him chained to the bed for safety. But she barely has time to take it all in, before an orderly raises the alarm - a body has been spotted floating in the river below...

The body of an elderly man in a grey suit is hauled ashore: he is cold dead. He has been dead for several days. In fact a closer examination reveals that he has already been embalmed. A full scale investigation is launched - could this really be the suicide they at first assumed, or is this some kind of sick joke

Troubled and exhausted, Lucy goes back to her father's shell of a house to get some sleep; but there'll be no rest for her tonight. She's barely in the front door when a neighbour knocks, in total distress - his wife's sister has turned up badly beaten. Can she help

In Preserve The Dead, Brian McGilloway weaves a pacy, intricate plot, full of tension to the very last page. DS Lucy Black's third outing since the bestselling Little Girl Lost, confirms her as one of the decade's most original female detectives: strong, sensitive and ever determined.

Reviews

A good read ... Don't worry if you're not familiar with the series - it works equally well as a stand-alone. - Evening Telegraph

Preserve the Dead is storytelling of the highest order from one of Irish crime writing's most unassuming masters - Irish Independent

McGilloway's novels are enjoyable police procedurals, displaying his understanding of the evolving nature of criminal enterprises in a world of porous national boundaries - Sunday Times

A wildly underrated author, his books are absolutely fantastic... [Preserve the Dead] is a brilliant exploration of modern Ireland. - RTE Radio1

A gripping and compelling story with a highly complex plot; only in the hands of an experienced practitioner such as this author can the various strands be coherently narrated and eventually brought together. Recommended. - Promoting Crime blog

Author Bio

Brian McGilloway is the author of thirteen crime novels including the Ben Devlin mysteries and the Lucy Black series, the first of which, Little Girl Lost, became a New York Times and UK No.1 bestseller. In addition to being shortlisted for a CWA Dagger and the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, he is a past recipient of the Ulster University McCrea Literary Award and won the BBC Tony Doyle Award for his screenplay, Little Emperors. He currently teaches in Strabane, where he lives with his wife and four children.