The brutal murder of a Celtic diplomat stirs trouble in an alternate twenty-first-century London in Henry's beguiling historical fantasy which mines themes of religious conflict, nationalism and prejudice in rich and gripping prose.
Two cops. One killer. Hundreds of gods.
21st Century London. The Norman conquest never happened. The ancient tribes of Britain remain undefeated. But murders still have to be solved.
The small, mostly unimportant, island of Britain is inhabited by an uneasy alliance of tribes - the dominant Saxon East, the beleaguered Celtic West, and an independent Nordic Scotland - and tensions are increasing by the second. Supermarket warpaint sales are at an all-time high, mead abuse shortens the lives of thousands, and social media is abuzz with conspiracy theories suggesting the High Table's putting GPS trackers in the honeycakes.
Amid this febrile atmosphere, the capital is set to play host to the Unification Summit, which aims to join together the various tribes into one 'united kingdom'. But when a Celtic diplomat is found brutally murdered, his body nailed to an ancient oak, the fragile peace is threatened. Captain Aedith Mercia, daughter of a powerful Saxon leader, must join forces with Celtic Tribal Detective Inspector Drustan to solve the murder - and stop political unrest spilling onto the streets.
But is this an isolated incident? Or are Aedith and Drustan facing a serial killer with a decades-old grudge? To find out, they must delve into their own murky pasts and tackle forces that go deeper than they ever could have imagined.
Set in a world that's far from our own and yet captivatingly familiar, Pagans explores contemporary themes of religious conflict, nationalism, prejudice... and the delicate internal politics of the office coffee round. Gripping and darkly funny, Pagans keeps you guessing until the very end.
Publisher: Moonflower Publishing
ISBN: 9781916678064
Number of pages: 321
Dimensions: 234 x 156 mm
This one is hard to describe! It's a lot of fun, surprising, and a really unputdownable piece of almost magical realism. I can see the inspiration for this from the best police procedurals, Neil Gaiman (alternate... More
Pagans took me back to my first read of Rivers of London, but not just for the obvious reasons. Yes it's a UK-based fantasy police procedural, but more than that, it's an exciting crime novel that... More
‘Pagans’ is a fast-paced, high-octane crime novel which spans genres in an interesting and unique way. It is set in a 21st century London, if the population were all Pagan; the world is well crafted and thought out,... More
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