Two Roads
Two Roads
Two Roads
Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the third in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh.
LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES.
THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR McLEVY.
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 seances. 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.
PRAISE FOR THE INSPECTOR McLEVY SERIES
Mclevy is a sort of Victorian Morse with a heart, prowling the mean wynds and tenements of the endlessly fascinating city. David Ashton impeccably evokes Edinburgh so vividly that you feel the cold in your bones and the menace of the Old Town's steep cobbles and dark corners - Financial Times
An intriguing Victorian story... elegant and convincing - The Times
McLevy is one of the greatest psychological creations and Ashton the direct heir to Robert Louis Stevenson - Brian Cox, CBE - Award-winning actor
David Ashton's writing is excellent, his characters thoroughly convincing and his narrative grabs you - 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
Dripping with melodrama and derring-do - Herald
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