He's a good detective... with a bad habit.

Frank Marr may be a decorated former cop and the best private investigator Washington, D.C. has ever known, but the city doesn't know his dirty secret.

A high-functioning drug addict, Frank has devoted his considerable skills to hiding his habit from others. But after accidentally discovering a kidnapped teenage girl in the home of a drug gang, Frank becomes a hero and is thrust into the spotlight.

Reluctantly, he agrees to investigate the disappearance of another girl - possibly connected to the first - all the time knowing that the heightened scrutiny may bring his own secrets to light...

The Second Girl is a raw, real and incredibly gripping thriller from a former DC Major Crimes detective. You won't regret meeting Frank Marr...but his enemies will.

"A gripping, authentic tale (the author is an ex-cop) of a man's journey into the heart of darkness that will appeal to fans of The Wire" - Shortlist

"An excellent ­addition to the noir genre...­Readers of Dennis Lehane and Richard Price as well as fans of The Wire will appreciate" - Library Journal

"The first book in your favorite new thriller series" - Kirkus

"Imagine Philip Marlowe upped and transplanted to contemporary Washington with a mountain of stolen coke hidden in a secret safe rather than a bottle of bourbon in his desk drawer, and you're close to Frank Marr, the winningly debauched private investigator hero of this gritty thriller...A complex, vulnerable but brilliant creation, with a unique personal morality, his spare narration is laced with wry humour but entirely lacking in self-pity...More is promised from Swinson and Marr, and for fans of tough, urban US crime that is very good news indeed." - CrimeScene

"The delight of The Second Girl is how smoothly its engine runs and how wisely it avoids the pitfalls of overstuffed, half-considered thrillers. The premise is straightforward: former cop seeks subtle redemption by reuniting missing girls with their families. The action reads like a real crime story you'd hear on the nightly news" - Washingtonian