Canongate bags 'gutsy' new thriller from crime duo behind Ambrose Parry

Canongate has acquired Voices of the Dead, the latest crime thriller from Ambrose Parry, the penname for writing duo Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman.

Publisher at large, Francis Bickmore, acquired world rights for the title from Sophie Scard at United Agents. It will be published on 6th July 2023.

The fourth instalment in the pair’s 19th-century crime fiction series, it follows Corruption of Blood, which was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger and McIlvanney Prize. 

The synopsis reads: “Voices of the Dead is set in 1853, a time of unprecedented scientific innovation. The public’s appetite for wonder has seen a resurgence of interest in mesmerism, spiritualism and other unexplained phenomena. Dr Will Raven is wary of the shadowlands that lie between progress and quackery, but Sarah Fisher can’t afford to be so picky. Frustrated in her medical ambitions, she sees opportunity in a new therapeutic field not already closed off to women.

“Raven has enough on his hands as it is. Body parts have been found at Surgeons’ Hall, and they’re not anatomy specimens. In a city still haunted by the crimes of Burke and Hare, he is tasked with heading off a scandal. When further human remains are found, Raven is able to identify a prime suspect, and the hunt is on before the killer strikes again. Unfortunately, the individual he seeks happens to be an accomplished actor, a man of a thousand faces and a renowned master of disguise. With the lines between science and spectacle dangerously blurred, the stage is set for a grand and deadly illusion.”

Inspired by the fascinating historical facts Haetzman uncovered through her master’s degree in history of medicine, the couple teamed up to write a series of historical crime thrillers, featuring the darkest of Victorian Edinburgh’s secrets.

The couple said: “It feels like we’ve been building up to this book, taking everything we‘ve learned from writing together and drawing on our combined passions for medicine, mystery and misdirection to create something truly magical."

Bickmore added: "Gripping, gothic, gutsy, there is not a more exciting historical crime brand than Ambrose Parry. The new book takes Raven and Fisher behind the velvet curtain of theatrical Edinburgh in the 1850s, and it’s their most exuberant, duplicitous and downright ungodly adventure yet." 

Scard commented: "With every new book, Ambrose Parry’s position as one of the most successful brands in historical crime fiction is further cemented. This is a fantastic collaboration which has seen Marisa Haetzman emerge as a powerful new voice for women in crime fiction, and Chris Brookmyre reach even higher heights. Voices of the Dead is one to watch."

Brookmyre and Haetzman are married and live in Scotland.