'A remarkable debut novel' Sunday Times
'The best historical thriller I've read in twenty years' A.J. Finn
'A thrilling, unnerving, clever and beautiful story. Reading it is like giving a little gift to oneself' Fredrik Backman
The year is 1793, Stockholm. King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, years of foreign wars have emptied the treasuries, and the realm is governed by a self-interested elite, leaving its citizens to suffer. On the streets, malcontent and paranoia abound.
A body is found in the city's swamp by a watchman, Mickel Cardell, and the case is handed over to investigator Cecil Winge, who is dying of consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell become embroiled in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams, and one death will expose a city rotten with corruption beneath its powdered and painted veneer.
The Wolf and the Watchman depicts the capacity for cruelty in the name of survival or greed - but also the capacity for love, friendship, and the desire for a better world.
'An unexpected masterpiece, a wild and unusual mix of genres that in one fell swoop succeeds in renewing the entire crime fiction genre' Arne Dahl
- ISBN10 1473682126
- ISBN13 9781473682122
- Publish Date 7 February 2019
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 29 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher John Murray Press
- Imprint John Murray Publishers Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 416
- Language English