'This is to my shame the first Mark Ellis book I've read. If the others evoke a vanished London so impressively, are graced with such complex plots and deep characterisation, and, above all, are written so well I shall have to read them all.' THE TIMES

'An atmospheric, compelling evocation of war-torn London in the wake of the Blitz, where DCI Frank Merlin fights against a tidal wave of crime' GEOFFREY WANSELL, Crime and Thriller Reviewer, DAILY MAIL

Summer, 1942.
The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side.

In a bombed-out London swarming with gangsters and spies, DCI Frank Merlin continues his battle against rampant wartime crime. A mangled body is found in the Thames just as some items of priceless art go mysteriously missing. What sinister connection links the two?

Merlin and his team follow a twisting trail of secrets and lies as they investigate a baffling and deadly puzzle .

'Unputdownable' ROBERT LYMAN

'Mark Ellis delivers diamonds - an intriguing, masterly juggling of an intricate plot and an enviable command of detail.' JOHN LAWTON

'Extraordinarily atmospheric and compelling, DEAD IN THE WATER is a wonderfully intelligent and complex story' CHRIS LLOYD, HWA Gold Crown Award winner.

'...historical noir at its best. Mark Ellis's talents as a writer are many; finely embroidered plotting, a meticulously researched historical context and place, and rounded characters whose lives and capers become real for a reader' GARY DONNELLY

'A very satisfying puzzle, expertly crafted' HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

Praise for the DCI Frank Merlin series:

'Masterly . . . compelling . . . one of the most attractive characters to emerge in recent detective-thriller fiction' ANDREW ROBERTS, SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

'Against the backdrop of Blitz-hit London, this stylish thriller sees Scotland Yard's Frank Merlin investigate a tangled conspiracy' SUNDAY MIRROR