'Spectacular' Gillian Flynn. THE FATAL FLAME is the stunning third novel in Lyndsay Faye's Edgar Award-nominated series, for fans of Andrew Taylor and Antonia Hodgson's The Devil in the Marshalsea.
A scarred barman turned copper star, the birth of the NYPD, gangs, murder, brothels and bedlam in the dark underworld of nineteenth-century New York.
Timothy Wilde - copper star, tough with a warm heart, learning his craft as a detective.
Valentine Wilde - Timothy's gregarious, glamorous, depraved rogue of a brother.
Mercy Underhill - The intelligent, creative but unstable love of Timothy's life.
Silky Marsh - The beautiful brothel owner whose scheming knows no bounds.
Against the gritty backdrop of the notorious Five Points in 1848, Timothy Wilde is drawn yet again into a disturbing mystery, leading him to the heart of the Bowery girls, the original 'factory girls' in downtown Manhattan.
Someone is starting fires on the streets of New York and Timothy has to unravel a knot of revenge, murder and blackmail if he's to find out who is behind it all and stop them before the whole city goes up in flames...
Read MoreReanimates a menacing 19th-century New York - The Sunday TimesCracking yarn - Daily MailVibrant - New York TimesLyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world and never once had the desire to leaveAs always in this series, the research is impeccable and the period ambiance dazzling - New York Times[Wilde and Valentine] are two of the most beguiling creatures in the equally crowded world of historical crime fiction . . . The pages teem with characters who are poor in money, but rich in words . . . It's illuminated with flashes of wit and tenderness - Irish Independent