The Drowning Place
Apr 2026 · Random House
Ebook
336
Pages
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Eligible
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infoThis book will become available on April 16, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
‘Sensational’ SABINE DURRANT
'A masterclass' STEVE CAVANAGH
'Sings with originality and authenticity' VASEEM KHAN
'Brilliant .... Breaks new ground for the genre' ANDREW TAYLOR
'Moving, gripping and unique ... Happy Valley but haunted' ANNA MAZZOLA
EVERY PLACE HAS ITS GHOSTS.
Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty...
The first in a stand-out and haunting new crime series for fans of Vera, Broadchurch and Happy Valley. Set in a town steeped in history and horror, the series follows DS Joseph Ashe, a young man haunted by the ghosts of his past and struggling with survivor’s guilt, and DI Laurie Bower, an outsider fighting to fit in.
'The Drowning Place marks the start of a wonderfully constructed police procedural series, where the crime at the heart of the novel is only part of the very moving story' SINÉAD CROWLEY
Praise for Sarah Hilary:
‘An astonishingly gifted writer’ MARIAN KEYES
'A master of her craft... she makes the words sing' ANN CLEEVES
'Sarah Hilary writes beautifully and unflinchingly' PETER JAMES
'Hilary is my drop-everything writer; always original, always bang-on psychologically, always gripping' ALEX MARWOOD
'Sarah Hilary has always known how to chill her readers' VAL MCDERMID
'Perfectly plotted, beautifully written modern Gothic' ERIN KELLY on Fragile
'Tremendous' IAN RANKIN on Quieter than Killing
'Exceptional. This is impeccable crime fiction from one of the very best writers of her generation: gripping, moving, taut and utterly compelling' JANE CASEY
'Beautifully written with a premise that grips you from the start, I fell in love with this new novel from Sarah Hilary' SARAH WARD
'A masterclass' STEVE CAVANAGH
'Sings with originality and authenticity' VASEEM KHAN
'Brilliant .... Breaks new ground for the genre' ANDREW TAYLOR
'Moving, gripping and unique ... Happy Valley but haunted' ANNA MAZZOLA
EVERY PLACE HAS ITS GHOSTS.
Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty...
The first in a stand-out and haunting new crime series for fans of Vera, Broadchurch and Happy Valley. Set in a town steeped in history and horror, the series follows DS Joseph Ashe, a young man haunted by the ghosts of his past and struggling with survivor’s guilt, and DI Laurie Bower, an outsider fighting to fit in.
'The Drowning Place marks the start of a wonderfully constructed police procedural series, where the crime at the heart of the novel is only part of the very moving story' SINÉAD CROWLEY
Praise for Sarah Hilary:
‘An astonishingly gifted writer’ MARIAN KEYES
'A master of her craft... she makes the words sing' ANN CLEEVES
'Sarah Hilary writes beautifully and unflinchingly' PETER JAMES
'Hilary is my drop-everything writer; always original, always bang-on psychologically, always gripping' ALEX MARWOOD
'Sarah Hilary has always known how to chill her readers' VAL MCDERMID
'Perfectly plotted, beautifully written modern Gothic' ERIN KELLY on Fragile
'Tremendous' IAN RANKIN on Quieter than Killing
'Exceptional. This is impeccable crime fiction from one of the very best writers of her generation: gripping, moving, taut and utterly compelling' JANE CASEY
'Beautifully written with a premise that grips you from the start, I fell in love with this new novel from Sarah Hilary' SARAH WARD
About the author
Sarah Hilary is the critically-acclaimed author of nine novels. Her debut, Someone Else's Skin, won the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year 2015 and was also a World Book Night selection, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and a finalist for both the Silver Falchion and Macavity Awards in the US. No Other Darkness, the second in her DI Marnie Rome series, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. Sarah is Programme Director for St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend, and co-founder of Ledburied, a crime fiction festival in her home town. Her short stories have won the Fish Criminally Short Histories Prize, the Cheshire Prize for Literature, and the SENSE Prize.
www.sarahhilary.com
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