"Andrew Taylor was given the thumbs up long ago for beautifully crafted, well-written narratives combining subtlety, depth and that vital "Oh my God what the hell is going to happen next" factor, which is the driving force of the story-teller"FRANCES FYFIELD, 'Daily Express' It is 1970. David Byfield, a widowed parish priest with a dark past and a darker future, brings home a new wife to Roth. Blinded by lust, Byfield is oblivious to the dangers that lie all about him: the menopausal churchwarden with a hopeless passion for her priest; his beautiful, neglected teenage daughter Rosemary; and the sinister presence of Frances Youlgreave – poet, opium addict and suicide – whose power stretches beyond the grave. Soon the murders and blasphemies begin. But does the responsibility lie in the present or the past? And can Byfield, a prisoner of his own passion, break through to the truth before the final tragedy destroys what he most cherishes? 'The Judgement of Strangers' is the second novel in Andrew Taylor's Roth Trilogy, linked psychological thrillers which, like an archaeological dig, strip away the layers of a psychopaths history. "Complex, with lots of sinister implications… moves the traditional crime novel on to some deeper level of exploration"JANE JAKEMAN, 'Independent'

• A tense, brooding and atmospheric crime novel; a brilliant follow-up to The Four Last Things. • Andrew Taylor is a highly acclaimed crime writer. A previous winner of the John Creasey Memorial Award, he has also been shortlisted for the Gold Dagger. • This haunting novel is the second in the Roth trilogy, a major publishing event which will strip away the layers of a psychopath’s history, book by book. Competition: The Essex Serpent, The Devil in the Marshalsea, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Andrew Taylor; Sarah Waters;Andrew Miller; Edgar Allan Poe;Iain Pears; Barbara Vine, Minette Walters, S. J. Parris, C. J. Sansom