Craig Russell

A riveting 1920s Hollywood thriller about the making of the most terrifying silent film ever made, and a deadly search for the single copy rumored still to exist, from the internationally acclaimed author of The Devil Aspect. "An excellent, engrossing historical horror novel."--New York Times Book Review "Rich and riveting...a masterful thriller." --Lincoln Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Addictive." --A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window "Totally engaging." --Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan series 1927: Mary Rourke--a Hollywood studio fixer--is called urgently to the palatial home of Norma Carlton, one of the most recognizable stars in American silent film. Norma has been working on the secret film everyone is openly talking about... a terrifying horror picture called The Devil's Playground that is rumored to have unleashed a curse on everyone involved in the production. Mary finds Norma's cold, dead body, and she wonders for just a moment if these dark rumors could be true. 1967: Paul Conway, a journalist and self-professed film aficionado, is on the trail of a tantalizing rumor. He has heard that a single copy of The Devil's Playground--a Holy Grail for film buffs--may exist. He knows his Hollywood history and he knows the film endured myriad tragedies and ended up lost to time. The Devil's Playground is Craig Russell's tour de force, a richly researched and constructed thriller that weaves through the Golden Age of Hollywood and reveals a blossoming industry built on secrets, invented identities, and a desperate pursuit of image. As Mary Rourke charges headlong through the egos, distractions, and traps that threaten to take her down with the doomed production, she discovers a truth far more sinister than she--or we--could have imagined.

From international award-winning author Craig Russell comes another dark thriller, for readers of Neil Gaiman, Caleb Carr and Stephen King.

From international award-winning author Craig Russell comes another dark thriller, for readers of Neil Gaiman, Caleb Carr and Stephen King.

Hiljainen-Tommy Quaid on yksityisetsivä Lennoxin harvoja ystäviä Glasgowissa. Lennox arvostaa hänen avointa, suoraa luonnettaan - vaikka hän on mestarivaras. Mutta kun Tommy syöksyy kuolemaan, Lennox tajuaa, kuinka väärässä hän on ollut Tommyn hiljaisesta elämästä. Käy ilmi, että tuo hiljainen mies tiesi salaisuuden, joka maksoi hänen henkensä. Salaisuus koskee ihmisiä, jotka ovat lain yläpuolella tai suorastaan laativat lakeja, ja nyt Tommy osoittaa Lennoxille haudan takaa jäljet joita seurata, jotta oikeus toteutuisi. Lennox on kerrankin enkelien puolella. Mutta hän on koston enkeli, ja julmassa Glasgowissa oikeus on väkisinkin veristä.

WINNER OF THE 2021 McILVANNEY AWARDIAN RANKIN'S CHOICE FOR BOTH BEST MYSTERY BOOK OF 2021 (PBS), AND BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR (NEW STATESMAN)'Russell writes a pacy, ever-twisting mystery that will keep you turning the pages.' - Ian Rankin'When it comes to Gothic crime, Craig Russell is peerless. Absolutely stunning.' - M W CravenFrom international bestselling author Craig Russell comes a modern Gothic masterpiece.Edward Hyde has a strange gift - or a curse - he keeps secret from all but his physician. He experiences two realities, one real, the other a dreamworld state brought on by a neurological condition.When murders in Victorian Edinburgh echo the ancient Celtic threefold death ritual, Captain Edward Hyde hunts for those responsible. In the process he becomes entangled in a web of Celticist occultism and dark scheming by powerful figures. The answers are there to be found, not just in the real world but in the sinister symbolism of Edward Hyde's otherworld.He must find the killer, or lose his mind.A dark tale. One that inspires Hyde's friend . . . Robert Louis Stevenson.Praise for Hyde: 'Intricate...evocative prose enhances a suspenseful and sophisticated plot. This is the rare riff on an influential novel that sticks the landing' Starred Review, Publishers Weekly 'Stephen King meets Robert Louis Stevenson... an imaginative gothic tale guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine the next time you walk a dark Edinburgh night.' - David Hewson, author of The Garden Of Angels 'Russell delivers a brooding, stunningly atmospheric tale set in Stevenson's Edinburgh - multi-layered and intricately plotted, this is a Gothic thriller from the hands of a master.' - Margaret Kirk, author of Shadow Man 'A deliciously dark reimagining of a timeless character and a wonderful recreation of a gothic Edinburgh . . . Another winner for a consummate storyteller.' - Douglas Skelton 'Gloriously diabolical. A terrifying thrill ride through the hidden chasms of the human soul.' - Chris Brookmyre, author of Black WidowI absolutely adored it. Intense, harrowing and hugely entertaining. Craig Russell conjures the kind of spine-tingling tale that kept me reading through the night. Spectacular. - Chris Whittaker'The story is a thrilling ride through the murky depths of madness and horror, written with all Craig's trademark skill and style. Definitely five stars from me' James Oswald'A Gothic masterpiece which will lead you so far into the darkness that you won't know who to trust. Another splendid offering from a writer who is top of his game. ' - Theresa Talbot'An engaging Gothic thriller full of atmosphere and surprises.' - Irish Independent Praise for Craig Russell 'A masterclass in suspenseful, character-driven prose fiction. Simply exceptional'Frank Darabont, writer and director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile

From the internationally acclaimed author, a stunning gothic reimagining of the Jekyll and Hyde story in which Captain Edward Hyde, chief detective of Victorian Edinburgh, investigates a gruesome murder that may unmask his own darkest secret Victorian Edinburgh. Captain Edward Henry Hyde is chief detective for the City of Edinburgh Police; as such, he is responsible for investigating all murders and serious crimes in the city. Hyde is a striking but severe-looking man who provokes unease, and often fear, in those who encounter him. Nevertheless, Edward Hyde is truly a good man ... though he wrestles fiercely with his own unique demons. When Hyde finds himself at the scene of a heinous murder, with no idea of how he got there or the events leading up to the discovery, his alarm is triggered on two levels. First, the crime scene is brutal and involves the Threefold Death, an ancient Celtic rite of sacrifice entangled with dark Scottish spiritual mythology. Second, Hyde's inability to remember any detail of his arrival at the crime scene makes him immediately fret about the secret he keeps from all but his physician: He suffers from a rare form of epilepsy that causes him to lose time--amnesiac absences where he cannot account for his actions--and nocturnal seizures that manifest themselves as vivid and lucid dreams. As Hyde begins his investigation of the murder in a city on edge, he finds himself not only searching for real world clues, but trying to unravel the significance of the imagery in the otherworld of his dreaming. His investigation leads to the very places he fears, but has never fully imagined.

A USA Today Best Mystery of All Time - Steeped in the folklore of Eastern Europe, and set in the shadow of Nazi darkness erupting just beyond the Czech border, this bone-chilling, richly imagined novel is propulsively entertaining, and impossible to put down. "A wildly entertaining story...Russell has created a truly frightening story." --The New York Times Book Review Czechoslovakia, 1935: Viktor Kos rek, a newly trained psychiatrist who studied under Carl Jung, arrives at the infamous Hrad Orlu Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The facility is located in a medieval mountaintop castle surrounded by forests, on a site that is well known for concealing dark secrets going back many centuries. The asylum houses six inmates--the country's most treacherous killers--known to the terrified public as the Devil's Six. Viktor intends to use a new medical technique to prove that these patients share a common archetype of evil, a phenomenon he calls The Devil Aspect. Yet as he begins to learn the stunning secrets of these patients, he must face the unnerving possibility that these six may share a darker truth. Meanwhile, in Prague, fear grips the city as a phantom serial killer emerges in the dark alleys. Police investigator Lukas Smolak, desperate to locate the culprit (a copycat of Jack the Ripper), turns to Viktor and the doctors at Hrad Orlu for their expertise with the psychotic criminal mind. And Viktor finds himself wrapped up in a case more terrifying than he could have ever imagined.

Yksityisetsivä Lennox saa pari helpolta vaikuttavaa tehtävää. Hänen pitää selvittää, pettääkö eräs vaimo aviomiestään, ja etsiä suurehkojen kassavarojen kanssa kadonnut ammattiyhdistysmies. Pian kumpikin juttu johtaa kuitenkin paljon suurempien ja synkempien asioiden äärelle. Kaikkea sävyttää Glasgowin savusumun kyllästämä atmosfääri. Yksityisetsivä Lennoxista on tekeillä brittiläinen tv-sarja.

From award-winning author Craig Russell comes a psychological tale of horror and suspense.

'Tough, uncompromising and insightful . . . Russell has brilliantly captured post-war Glasgow and the vulnerability of those left to pick up the pieces' Michael Robotham'A crime story that transcends the genre. . .This is storytelling at its very best!' Michael Connelly Glasgow, 1953: the war may be over but the battle for the streets is just beginning. Three crime bosses control the murky streets, but a small-scale con is trying to invade their territory. The balance is shifting. Lennox, a hard man in a hard city at a hard time, finds himself caught in the middle - a dangerous place to be.One night, a body is discovered on the road, his head mashed to pulp, and Lennox is in the frame for murder. The only way of proving his innocence is to solve the crime - but he'll have to dodge men more deadly than Glasgow's crime bosses before he gets any answers.The first in a unique and memorable crime series, Lennox is gritty, fast-paced, mordantly funny and totally compelling.Praise for award-winning writer Craig Russell: 'Another brilliantly sharp, witty and tough take on a hard city at a hard time . . . a former cop, Russell is Britain's rising crime-writing star' Daily Mirror'Through his humorous lens, time and place become razor-sharp ... The lightness of touch is a breath of fresh air in this most crowded of genres . . . This is tartan neo-noir at its most entertaining' Sunday Herald

'Tough, uncompromising and insightful . . . Russell has brilliantly captured post-war Glasgow and the vulnerability of those left to pick up the pieces' Michael Robotham'A crime story that transcends the genre. . .This is storytelling at its very best!' Michael Connelly Human remains are dredged up from the Clyde. They've been sleeping the deep, dark sleep for eighteen years. Suddenly Glasgow's underworld is buzzing with the news that the remains are those of 'Gentleman Joe' Strachan, Glasgow's most ruthless armed robber.When Strachan's daughters hire Lennox to find out who's been sending them cash every year on the anniversary of Strachan's biggest robbery, his instincts tell him the job spells trouble and will throw him back into world of the Three Kings - the crime bosses who run the city.But he takes the job. And soon learns that ignoring his instincts may cost him his life.Praise for award-winning writer Craig Russell: 'Another brilliantly sharp, witty and tough take on a hard city at a hard time . . . a former cop, Russell is Britain's rising crime-writing star' Daily Mirror'Through his humorous lens, time and place become razor-sharp ...The lightness of touch is a breath of fresh air in this most crowded of genres . . . This is tartan neo-noir at its most entertaining'Sunday Herald