Oscar de Muriel Boeken

THE FINAL FREY & McGRAY MYSTERY AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW All will be revealed... * * * * * The Devil Has Come to Edinburgh... An ill-fated grave-robbery unearths a corpse with a most disturbing symbol on it. The very same sign is daubed in blood on the walls of Edinburgh's lunatic asylum, on the night that one of the patients is murdered. The mark in question? The mark of the devil. The prime suspect: Amy McGray, the asylum's most infamous inmate, a young woman who has grown up behind bars after she killed her parents many years ago. Her brother, Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray, knows the evidence is stacked against her. To prove her innocence, he needs the help of an old friend... Inspector Ian Frey insists he is retired. But when called upon, he reluctantly agrees to their final case. Because this is the case in which all will be revealed - as twists follow bombshells on the way to the secrets that have been waiting in the shadows... This rollicking Victorian sensationalist melodrama is the epic conclusion to the marvellous Frey & McGray mysteries.

"A mysterious woman pleads for the help of Inspectors Frey and 'Nine-Nails' McGray. Her son, illegitimate scion of the Koloman family, has received an anonymous death threat - right after learning he is to inherit the best part of a vast wine-producing estate. In exchange for their protection, she offers McGray the ultimate cure for his sister who has been locked in an insane asylum after brutally murdering their parents: the miraculous waters that spring in a small island in the remote Loch Maree. The island has been a sacred burial ground since the time of the druids, but the legends around it will turn out to be much darker than McGray could have expected. Death and increasingly bizarre happenings will intermingle throughout this trip to the Highlands, before Frey and McGray learn a terrible truth."--Publisher's description

Imagine a Victorian Jonathan Creek: find history and mystery in this fiendishly clever and compelling locked-room puzzle.

There are many bad days in Edinburgh police's subdivision 'The Commission for the Elucidation of Unsolved Cases Presumably Related to the Odd and Ghostly'. And in the pantheon of the worst days - today takes the podium.Because the English Inspector Ian Frey, and his Scottish boss 'Nine-Nails' McGray are called into a meeting in the middle of the night with none other than the Prime Minister himself.And he tells them that Queen Victoria - the most powerful woman in the world - wants them both dead.

'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times 'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' Ian Rankin The Scottish Play is coming home. But before the darling couple of London theatre, Henry Irving & Ellen Terry, take their acclaimed Macbeth to the Edinburgh stage terror treads the boards. A grisly message found smeared across the cobbles in blood, foretelling someone's demise. As the bloody prophecies continue to appear Edinburgh's own beloved pair - Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray & Inspector Ian Frey - enter the scene. Frey scoffs at this blatant publicity stunt, while McGray is convinced of supernatural affairs. As they scrutinise the key players, they discover that Terry, Irving, and his peculiar, preoccupied assistant (one Bram Stoker) all have reasons to kill, or be killed... But one thing is clear. By occult curse or human hand, death will take bow the night the curtain rises. Praise for the Frey & McGray series: 'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' Ian Rankin 'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times 'This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it. Oscar de Muriel is going to be a name to watch' Manda Scott 'Fun to read and a fast page-turner. Love and murder - they go together like strawberries and cream' Independent 'A brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written ... Everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review 'Fast-paced, well-researched and thoroughly spellbinding. The mismatched pair is as entertaining as Holmes and Watson at their best' Historical Novel Society

The brutal slaying of a violinist in his home in 1888 sparks a locked room murder mystery investigated by two diametrically opposed Edinburgh detectives.

A spellbinding concoction of crime, history and horror - perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Creek. New Year's Day, 1889. In Edinburgh's lunatic asylum, a patient escapes as a nurse lays dying. Leading the manhunt are legendary local Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray and Londoner-in-exile Inspector Ian Frey. Before the murder, the suspect was heard in whispered conversation with a fellow patient - a girl who had been mute for years. What made her suddenly break her silence? And why won't she talk again? Could the rumours about black magic be more than superstition? McGray and Frey track a devious psychopath far beyond their jurisdiction, through the worst blizzard in living memory, into the shadow of Pendle Hill - home of the Lancashire witches - where unimaginable danger awaits.