When a bunch of neo-fascist thugs named The Bulldogs attack a Gay pride march in the sleepy country town of Lafferton, detective Simon Serrailler moves quickly to find the assailants. He’s already got his hands full making security arrangements for a memorial service to honour soldiers returning from Afghanistan. When anonymous threats come in, Serrailler wonders if the Bulldogs are behind these too – and worries that they know the Prince of Wales will be in attendance. As the day approaches, the threats intensify, and Serrailler finds himself racing against the clock to prevent catastrophe.
Susan Hill has won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewelyn Rhys prizes, as well as being shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She has written 55 books in several genres, including the ghost story The Woman in Black, the play adapted from which is still running in London’s West End after 25 years. I’m the King of The Castle has been a GCSE set text. She has also published collections of short stories, fiction for children, several nonfiction books and the highly successful crime novel series about the detective Simon Serrailler, who features in a short story here for the first time. Her new novel, The Soul of Discretion, is the eighth in the Serrailler series, and will be published by Chatto and Windus in October. Susan Hill is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of King’s College, London, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Honours of 2012.