One of Irish Times' Best Crime Novels of 2017!

Dublin, September 1940.

An IRA attempt to capture the British diplomatic bag on its way from Ireland to England leaves a Guard dead on the streets of Dublin. Two days later a pitched battle between warring gangs erupts at one of Ireland's biggest race meetings. In the Irish countryside, the cremated bodies of a family of four are found in their burned-out house.

Connections between these events become clear to Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie when he is dispatched to investigate the four dead bodies - or is he there to cover something up? He is soon treading on the toes of Ireland's burgeoning Intelligence industry - Irish, British and German, all playing against each other, all watching each other, all plagued by rogue operators they can't control. Meanwhile certainty grows that Hitler is about to invade England, with Ireland in the firing line.

And then Stefan is asked to go to Berlin on a sensitive mission the Irish government doesn't want anyone to know about. The journey will take him not only to Berlin and the heart of the war, but to a murder that touches the city's small Irish community and opens a window on to the heart of Europe's darkness...

Praise for Michael Russell:

'Atmospheric thriller' Sunday Times

'Michael Russell is a master at building tension. This is a thriller to keep you guessing and gasping' Daily Mail

'Complex but compelling . . . utterly vivid and convincing . . . Michael Russell's style is a pleasure: easy, fluent, clear, always calm and never over-heated' Independent on Sunday

'A superb, atmospheric thriller . . . A page turner of high quality, populated by a marvellous set of fictional characters, interwoven cleverly with real characters of the era. Highly recommended' Irish Independent

"Atmospheric thriller" - Sunday Times

"Michael Russell is a master at building tension. This is a thriller to keep you guessing and gasping" - Daily Mail

"Complex but compelling ... utterly vivid and convincing ... Michael Russell's style is a pleasure: easy, fluent, clear, always calm and never over-heated. The result is an exciting comfort read, which sounds like a paradox but isn't" - Independent on Sunday

"Part thriller and part historical novel, this is a blinder of a read!" - The Sun

"A great insight into a turbulent time in Dublin and Ireland, in a challenging-to-your-heartbeat kind of way" - Evening Herald

"A superb, atmospheric thriller...A page turner of high quality, populated by a marvellous set of fictional characters, interwoven cleverly with real characters of the era. Highly recommended" - Irish Independent

"In action ranging from Dublin to Danzig Russell has drawn on real-life Irish characters whose decent behaviour in the face of the impending Holocaust has been sadly lost over the years. This book has triumphantly revived their reputation" - Jewish Chronicle

"Complex but compelling ... utterly vivid and convincing ... Michael Russell's style is a pleasure: easy, fluent, clear, always calm and never over-heated. The result is an exciting comfort read, which sounds like a paradox but isn't" - Independent on Sunday

"Part thriller and part historical novel, this is a blinder of a read!" - The Sun

"A great insight into a turbulent time in Dublin and Ireland, in a challenging-to-your-heartbeat kind of way" - Evening Herald

"A superb, atmospheric thriller...A page turner of high quality, populated by a marvellous set of fictional characters, interwoven cleverly with real characters of the era. Highly recommended" - Irish Independent

"In action ranging from Dublin to Danzig Russell has drawn on real-life Irish characters whose decent behaviour in the face of the impending Holocaust has been sadly lost over the years. This book has triumphantly revived their reputation" - Jewish Chronicle