Ash and Bones

August 14, 2017
At the outset of this grim crime novel from Welsh author Thomas (Ugly Bus), an early morning police raid on a flat in a rundown housing estate near the Cardiff docks goes badly awry: a detective sergeant is shot dead, another man is seriously wounded, and the killer escapes. Will MacReady, a detective constable trainee, is called to the scene. It’s his first day as part of the CID team. MacReady doesn’t want to screw up, but he soon gets in over his head as he struggles to be useful and cope with his superior’s quirks. Meanwhile, he is trying desperately to rejuvenate his marriage and keep an eye on his violent, alcoholic layabout big brother. The discovery of a body in the harbor raises the ante. Thomas, who served for more than two decades with the Cardiff police, teaches American readers some new slang (“Well you can muck in with Sarge when she’s back from her latest women’s empowerment jolly up at HQ. You’re cooking my swede already”) and successfully portrays the gritty side of detective work.

September 1, 2017
Welshman Thomas, a former cop, launches a new series introducing Will MacReady of the Cardiff CID. Rookie Will's sharp instincts and boundless energy are all the more annoying to his fellow officers after he uncovers leads in the murder of a cop on an unauthorized stakeout. Unfortunately, Will's not so observant at home, where his unhappy wife is taking the couple's infertility into her own hands. A secondary story line features a young boy being sold to an orphanage in Lagos, Nigeria. The mutilated bodies that keep being uncovered might be the connection linking the two cases. A gritty procedural for fans of Stuart MacBride and Simon Kernick.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)