The Hangman's Song

The Hangman's Song is the thrilling third novel in James Oswald's Inspector McLean series set in Edinburgh.

Look out for the fourth instalment in the bestselling Inspector McLean series, Dead Men's Bones, available for pre-order from Penguin.

A young man is found hanging by a rope in his Edinburgh home. A simple, sad suicide, yet Detective Inspector Tony McLean is puzzled by the curious suicide note. A second hanged man and another strange note hint at a sinister pattern.

Investigating a brutal prostitution and human trafficking ring, McLean struggles to find time to link the two suicides. But the discovery of a third convinces him of malicious intent.

Digging deeper, McLean finds answers much closer to home than he expects. Something terrifying stalks the city streets, and bringing it to justice may destroy all he holds dear.

The first two titles in the series, Natural Causes and The Book of Souls, are both available as Penguin Paperbacks and ebooks.

Praise for James Oswald:

'A star of Scotland's burgeoning crime fiction scene' Daily Record

'Crime fiction's next big thing' The Sunday Telegraph

'Literary sensation...James' overnight success has drawn comparisons with the meteoric rise of EL James and her Fifty Shades of Grey series' Daily Mail

'Fifty Shades of Hay' The Times

'Oswald is among the leaders in the new batch of excellent Scottish crime writers' Daily Mail

'The new Ian Rankin' Daily Record

'The hallmarks of Val McDermid or Ian Rankin: it's dark, violent, noirish' The Herald

'A good read' The Times

'An excellent start to what promises to be a fine series' Guardian

'Classy, occasionally brutal, and with the odd suggestion of the supernatural, this will doubtless be another deserved hit. Oswald's writing is in a class above most in this genre' Daily Express

James Oswald is the author of the Detective Inspector McLean series of crime novels. The first two, Natural Causes and The Book of Souls, are also available as Penguin paperbacks and ebooks. He has also written an epic fantasy series as well as comic scripts and short stories.

In his spare time he runs a 350-acre livestock farm in North East Fife, where he raises pedigree Highland Cattle and New Zealand Romney Sheep.