Waterstones' Joseph Knox launches noir debut Sirens

Waterstones crime buyer Joseph Knox celebrated the launch of his Manchester noir debut Sirens at the bookseller's Piccadilly's Fifth View in London last night (12th January).

Knox, whose real name is Joseph Knobbs, welcomed friends and guests from across the book trade to the event, including Waterstones' m.d. James Daunt, Penguin Random House UK c.e.o. Tom Weldon, Transworld m.d. Larry Finlay and W H Smith Travel fiction buyer Matt Bates.

Sirens - the first in a series of crime novels for Transworld - was signed by the publisher after a "highly competitive" 10-way auction in early 2016.

Transworld publisher Bill Scott-Kerr last night said Knox's novel "heralds a new genre of English noir". His comments echo the praise of top crime writers such as Lee Child and Val McDermid, who have already hailed it "very special indeed" and "a powerhouse of noir" respectively.

The book follows disgraced detective Aidan Waits, who is pressured into going undercover to unearth dirty cops at the heart of Manchester's underworld drug scene following the disappearance of a politician's daughter.