The Business of Dying

The clock is ticking and everyone’s watching their backs as a war of morality is fought in the mind of one renegade policeman in this gripping first novel by a talented young crime writer.

It’s a typical cold November night in London and Detective Sergeant Dennis Milne, a very atypical policeman, waits in the Traveller’s Rest Hotel parking lot for the arrival of three men. Cynical and jaded, Milne earns money on the side by doing what he does best: punishing the bad guys. But this time he’s been duped. Instead of blowing away drug dealers, he kills three innocent people, their deaths starting an investigation that sees him and his conscience heading for trouble.

Less than twelve hours later, Milne is out on the streets again. Eighteen-year-old Miriam Fox has been found dead by Regent’s Canal---her throat slashed. Desperate to find Miriam’s killer, Milne uncovers a web of depravity far more shocking than he could ever have imagined. Can he evade arrest for his own crimes and solve a case so sickening that it may provide the key to his personal redemption?

Simon Kernick lives near London with his wife and young daughter. The Business of Dying is his first novel.