Call the Dying: (7 Lydmouth)

Love and need make unexpected bedfellows, and both are blind. As the grip of a long hard winter tightens on Lydmouth, a dead woman calls the dying in a seance behind net curtains. Two provincial newspapers are in the throes of a bitter circulation war. A lorry driver broods, and an office boy loses his heart. Britain is basking in the warm glow of postwar tranquillity, but in the quiet town of Lydmouth, darker forces are at play. The rats are fed on bread and milk, a gentleman's yellow kid glove is mislaid on a train and something disgusting is happening at Mr Prout's toy shop. Returning to a town shrouded in intrigue and suspicion, Jill Francis becomes acting editor of the Gazette. Meanwhile, there's no pleasure left in the life of Detective Chief Inspector Richard Thornhill. Only a corpse, a television set and the promise of trouble to come.

About the Author :
Andrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouth books, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994). His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller A Schooling in Murder (2025). Philip Franks is an English actor and theatre director. Philip was born in London and first fell in love with theatre at age six, when his parents took him along to see a production of The Tempest. The following year, he insisted on going with them again to see a production of Hamlet, and at age seven, he was hooked for life. Philip is perhaps best known for his roles as tax inspector Cedric 'Charley' Charlton in the British sitcom The Darling Buds of May, and Sgt. Raymond Craddock on Heartbeat. He has also made guest appearances in Absolutely Fabulous, Pie in the Sky, Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War.

Review :
'Andrew Taylor is a master storyteller.' 'Taylor is an excellent writer.' 'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today.' 'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' 'Does full justice to Andrew Taylor's reputation as on of the greatest award winning crime writers of our time'