Heartman

Longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2015

It's 1965, and a young woman has vanished from the streets of Bristol. A Caribbean immigrant, unable to hear or speak, she is invisible to the police and lost to the biting winter night.

Enter Joseph Tremaine Ellington. An ex-cop fleeing a broken heart and a tragic past in Barbados, only to find himself choosing between starving or freezing to death in England. That is, until local big shot Earl Linney hires him to track down the missing girl, casting him adrift in the murky waters of sex, kidnapping and conspiracy among the shebeens, brothels and nightclubs of his strange new reality.

Navigating a hostile environment full of prejudice and violence, he discovers other women are missing, and Earl Linney's hands are far from clean. As JT uncovers the truth, each clue draws him deeper into the world of vice. Dangerous and unfamiliar, it's a world that could prove deadly.

'Excellent read. Loved the picture [M.P. Wright paints] of '60s Bristol.'

DERMOT O'LEARY

'A good plot with lively dialogue and Ellington [as] an engaging hero.'

THE TIMES