The year is 1855. The Crimean war is raging. The British government has fallen. The Empire itself hangs in the balance.

And then the murders start...

Someone is targeting members of London's elite - leaving with each corpse the names of men who failed to assassinate Queen Victoria. It's clear that Victoria will be the ultimate victim. As the notorious Opium-Eater Thomas De Quincey and his daughter Emily race to save her, they uncover the heart-breaking past of a man whose lust for revenge has destroyed his soul.

Based on actual attempts to assassinate the queen, Inspector of the Dead brilliantly merges fact with fiction, bringing a bloody chapter of Victorian England to vivid, pulse-pounding life.

"Morrell expertly captures in prose the economic and political divisions of Victorian society, but he leavens his social commentary with moments of high adventure." - Kirkus Reviews

"A feat of brilliant storytelling" - Huffington Post

"Praise for David Morrell" - .

"Murder as a Fine Art was fantastic, and Inspector of the Dead is even better...Morrell is darkly inventive with the murders and cleverly mines very real history...The author brings each character back to life, and they spring fully formed from the page...I dare you to put this down once you've picked it up!" - My Bookish Ways

"A gaslit gallop through Victorian London" - Financial Times

"[An] exceptional historical mystery...page-flipping action, taut atmosphere, and multifaceted characters" - Booklist

"Shockingly real...Morrell's thorough and erudite research of the people and culture of the British Empire's heyday informs every page. A literary thriller that pushes the envelope of fear" - Associated Press

"Masterful...brilliantly plotted....evokes 1854 London with such finesse that you'll hear the hooves clattering on cobblestones" - Entertainment Weekly

"Brilliant. Everything works - the horrifying depiction of the murders, the asides explaining the impact of train travel on English society, nail-biting action sequences - making this book an epitome of the intelligent page-turner." - Publishers Weekly

"The finest thriller writer living today, bar none." - Steve Berry

"A master of suspense....If you're reading Morrell, you're sitting on the edge of your seat." - Michael Connelly

"An absolute master of the thriller" - Dean Koontz

"The father of the modern action novel" - Vince Flynn

"Nobody does this better than David Morrell" - Lee Child

"A titan among thriller writers." - Joseph Finder

"Master storyteller David Morrell . . . thrills us with heart-pounding suspense while tugging at our emotions." - Tess Gerritsen