Product details
Biographical note
DAVID ASHTON was born in Greenock in 1941. He studied at Central Drama School, London, from 1964 to 1967, and most recently appeared in The Last King of Scotland and The Etruscan Smile. David started writing in 1984 and he has seen many of his plays and TV adaptations broadcast - he wrote early episodes of EastEnders and Casualty, and twelve McLevy series for BBC Radio 4. inspectormclevy.com<p><b>PRAISE FOR THE INSPECTOR McLEVY SERIES</b><br />Mclevy is a sort of Victorian Morse with a heart, prowling the mean wynds and tenements of the endlessly fascinating city.<b> David Ashton impeccably evokes Edinburgh so vividly</b> that you feel the cold in your bones and the menace of the Old Town's steep cobbles and dark corners</p>
Financial Times
An intriguing Victorian story... <b>elegant and convincing</b>
The Times
McLevy is one of the greatest psychological creations and <b>Ashton the direct heir to Robert Louis Stevenson</b>
Brian Cox, CBE - Award-winning actor
David Ashton's writing is excellent, his characters thoroughly convincing and <b>his narrative grabs you</b>
The Sherlock Holmes Society
Ashton's McLevy is a man obsessed with meting out justice and with demons of his own
Scotsman
A real page-turner
Sunday Post
<b>Dripping with melodrama and derring-do</b>
Herald
BASED ON THE LONG-RUNNING BBC RADIO 4 McLEVY DRAMA SERIES
...WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVY
ELEGANT AND CONVINCING' The Times | 'ASHTON IS THE DIRECT HEIR TO ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON' Brian Cox | 'EXCELLENT' The Sherlock Holmes Society | 'DRIPPING WITH MELODRAMA AND DERRING-DO' Herald
Halloween 1881, Edinburgh, and the dead are restless.
In respectable Edinburgh society, beautiful young American spiritualist, Sophia Adler, is causing a furore with her dramatic séances. But the ghosts of the past seem hell-bent on retribution.
Inspector James McLevy finds his investigations distracted by more earthly concerns when Muriel Grierson, an outwardly genteel widow is robbed at home. Her knight in shining armour - one Arthur Conan Doyle, recently graduated from medical school - is keen to learn from such a master of detection as the renowned inspector, but McLevy is less sure that he requires a new acolyte.
A vicious murder occurs with evidence of supernatural strength and violence. Treachery revenged from a battle long ago. All roads lead to Sophia Adler and the inspector becomes involved with one of the most dangerous women he has ever encountered.
THE INSPECTOR MCLEVY SERIES
1 - Shadow of the Serpent
2 - Fall from Grace
3 - A Trick of the Light
4 - Nor Will He Sleep