Marshall's 'gripping' bioweapon thriller to Canelo in two-book deal

Craig Lye, commissioning editor at Canelo, has bought two thrillers by D L Marshall from Philip Patterson at Marjacq Scripts. 

First pitched at Bloody Scotland festival, Anthrax Island features agent John Tyler and is set on Gruinard Island, a small Scottish islet that has been off-limits for decades having been used as a testing ground for biological weapons during the Second World War. When a technician dies at the scientific station on the island, Tyler is flown in to investigate. Can he uncover the killer in their midst before a new strain of anthrax is unleashed upon the world?

Anthrax Island will be published in e-book in March 2021, with a paperback edition to follow in May 2021.

Lye said: "Danny has written a gripping, atmospheric thriller, taking the incredible true story of Britain’s biological weapons-testing programme in the 1940s on Gruinard Island and spinning a scarily plausible tale about a modern-day bioweapons threat. You won’t be able to put it down."

Marshall commented: "Canelo are a fantastic publisher doing some really exciting things at the moment, so I’m thrilled to be working with Craig. The true story of Gruinard Island is a dark and terrifying chapter in our history, and one that has fascinated me for a long time."

Marshall won a Northern Writers' Award in 2018.