BASED ON THE LONG-RUNNING BBC RADIO 4 McLEVY DRAMA SERIES

...WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVY

ELEGANT AND CONVINCING' The Times | 'ASHTON IS THE DIRECT HEIR TO ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON' Brian Cox | 'EXCELLENT' The Sherlock Holmes Society | 'DRIPPING WITH MELODRAMA AND DERRING-DO' Herald

1887. The streets of Edinburgh seethe with anarchy as two gangs of students rival each other in wild exploits. After a pitched battle between them, an old woman is found savagely battered to death in Leith Harbour.

Enter the Thieftaker - Inspector Jame McLevy. With Constable Mulholland at his side, he scours the low dives of the waterfront and then sees the tendrils of the case spread to more respectable nooks and crannies.

When the inspector encounters Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in the city to bury his deceased father, the two recognise each other as fellow travellers, observers of the dark side of human nature and both hopeless insomniacs.

Glimpses of the murderer indicate a slender, androgynous figure with a silver cane, which is used to lethal effect. A dancing killer non unlike Mr Edward Hyde.

THE INSPECTOR MCLEVY SERIES

1 - Shadow of the Serpent

2 - Fall from Grace

3 - A Trick of the Light

4 - Nor Will He Sleep