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Persons Unknown

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What to expect

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A brutal murder. A detective with no one left to trust.

‘[Steiner] solidified the promise of last year’s debut, Missing, Presumed, with another hyper-realistic police procedural’ Guardian: Books of the Year 2017

A YOUNG MAN MURDERED
A city banker bleeds to death yards from a Cambridgeshire police headquarters.

A DETECTIVE OUT OF HER DEPTH
DI Manon Bradshaw’s world is turned upside down when the victim turns out to be closer to her than she could have guessed.

WHO SHOULD SHE BELIEVE?
When even her trusted colleagues turn their backs on her, it’s time to contemplate the unthinkable: are those she holds dear capable of murder?

Manon Bradshaw is back.

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'Steiner has a quirky, evocative prose style that is often very funny and her novels are highly entertaining and full of memorable, well-rounded characters' Sunday Express

'Bradshaw is an engaging heroine, full of self-doubt and contradiction, but whose caustic wit gleams through the grim murder inquiry' Daily Mail

'Winning prose, sympathetic characters and an appreciation of life’s joys as keen as a knowledge of its dangers' Wall Street Journal

‘An ingeniously and extravagantly plotted, multi-voiced thrillride … wise and witty … beautifully written’ Irish Times

‘I loved it … Persons Unknown is like walking on quicksand, for reader and detective alike' Val McDermid

'A smart and funny rumination on motherhood' New York Times

'Strikingly modern…It is refreshing to see a detective grappling with real life dilemmas but they never get in the way of the plot, which is clever and original. A series to watch from a confident writer who draws even minor characters with care and sympathy' Sunday Times

‘By turns tense and tender, gripping and moving, and always beautifully written. I didn’t read this book so much as live it: DI Manon Bradshaw is so convincingly human that I often wonder what she’s up to now’ Erin Kelly

‘The best new crime series in years’ Sarah Perry

Critics Review

  • ‘[Steiner] solidified the promise of last year’s debut, Missing, Presumed, with another hyper-realistic police procedural’ Guardian: Books of the Year 2017

    ‘Steiner has a quirky, evocative prose style that is often very funny and her novels are highly entertaining and full of memorable, well-rounded characters’ Sunday Express

    ‘Bradshaw is an engaging heroine, full of self-doubt and contradiction, but whose caustic wit gleams through the grim murder inquiry’ Daily Mail

    ‘Winning prose, sympathetic characters and an appreciation of life’s joys as keen as a knowledge of its dangers’ Wall Street Journal

    ‘An ingeniously and extravagantly plotted, multi-voiced thrillride … wise and witty … beautifully written’ Irish Times

    ‘I loved it … Persons Unknown is like walking on quicksand, for reader and detective alike’ Val McDermid

    ‘A smart and funny rumination on motherhood’ New York Times

    ‘Strikingly modern…It is refreshing to see a detective grappling with real life dilemmas but they never get in the way of the plot, which is clever and original. A series to watch from a confident writer who draws even minor characters with care and sympathy’ Sunday Times

    ‘Susie Steiner goes from strength to strength: Persons Unknown is by turns tense and tender, gripping and moving, and always beautifully written. I didn’t read this book so much as live it: DI Manon Bradshaw is so convincingly human that I often wonder what she’s up to now’ Erin Kelly

    ‘The best new crime series in years’ Sarah Perry

    ‘Superb storytelling – a joy to read. I am hooked on Manon Bradshaw’ Renée Knight

    ‘Stylish, literary fiction at its very best’ Peter James

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