Swan Song - Robert Edric - 9780552771443

[html]Hull, autumn 2005 and private investigator Leo Rivers finds himself at the overheated heart of an inquiry into the savage killing of several young women. Approached by the mother of the chief suspect, he soon discovers not only that this suspect is not involved in the killings, but that several hitherto unconsidered and scarcely credible connections link the murders to a single perpetrator. In pursuing his case, Rivers has to contend with an ambitious, career-minded Chief of Police, who will stop at nothing to make a name for himself, sacrificing not only Rivers but also his own colleagues along the way. Set against a backdrop of the Humber and the long and violent destruction of Hull's once-cherished fishing industry, Robert Edric reveals a world of exploitation and ambition; a world of old men who burnish their festering grievances and vanities; and a world of long-suppressed but finally uncontainable brutality, in this final volume of a trilogy of outstanding and acclaimed contemporary noir.'Deeply intelligent . . . The vertiginously devious plot twists like a fist round the throat of the reader. Robert Edric makes it impossible for the crime novel to be considered the country cousin of serious literature any longer' - The Times 'Edric is a terrific storyteller . . . Impressive stuff' - Observer 'In this superior, self-deprecating thriller, the workings of the plot are secondary to the elegiac realism of the story' - Daily TelegraphRobert Edric was born in 1956. His novels include Winter Garden (1985 James Tait Black Prize winner), A New Ice Age (1986 runner-up for the Guardian Fiction Prize), A Lunar Eclipse, The Earth Made of Glass, Elysium, In Desolate Heaven, The Sword Cabinet, The Book of the Heathen (shortlisted for the 2001 WH Smith Literary Award) and Peacetime (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2002). Cradle Song is the first book in the Song Cycle Trilogy, which is completed by Siren Song and Swan Song.[/html]