A SHOTS MAG BOOK OF THE YEAR
THE STUNNING FOURTH BOOK IN THE DS ALEXANDRA CUPIDI INVESTIGATIONS FROM ONE OF CRIME FICTION’S FINEST WRITERS
A DOUBLE MURDER
The naked corpses of Aylmer and Mary Younis are discovered in their home. The only clues are a note written in blood and an eerie report of two spectral figures departing the crime scene. Officer Jill Ferriter is charged with investigating the murders while her colleague Alex Cupidi is on leave, recovering from post-traumatic stress.
AN ELABORATE SCAM
The dead couple had made investments in a green reforestry scheme in Guatemala, resulting in the loss of all their savings. What is more disturbing is that Cupidi and Ferriter’s disgraced former colleague and friend Bill South is also on the list of investors and the Younis’s were not the only losers.
AN UNLIKELY KILLER
Despite being in counselling and receiving official warnings to stay away from police work Cupidi finds herself dragged into the case and begins to trawl among the secrets and lies that are held in the fishing community of Folkestone. Desperate to exonerate South she finds herself murderously compromised when personal relationships cloud her judgement.
Pacey, intense and riddled with surprising twists, The Trawlerman shows that deceit can be found in the most unlikely places. The brooding waters of the Kent coastline offer an ominous backdrop for this lively page-turner of corruption, mental health and the complexities of human connection.
What people say about The Trawlerman
“Shaw goes from strength to strength in this subtle and original series about clever but uneasy cop Alex Cupidi, whose beat is the weird and wild world of Dungeness . . . Authentic plots, an atmospheric setting and believable dialogue make this another Shaw-fire hit by one of Britain’s leading crime writers.” Simon Cooper, The Sun
“Shaw’s finely drawn copper, Alex Cupidi, is on enforced leave, trying to deal with lingering PTSD following a traumatic case. But trouble is never far away from her home on the wild Dungeness shore. Murder and fraud, fishing and family all come together in a terrifically atmospheric thriller mixing a twisting plot with a considered meditation on the lasting effects of close contact with violence.” John Williams, The Mail on Sunday
“Swallowed, hook, line and sinker. Lovely storytelling, deft and clever; and characters painted in all the colours of the sea and the sky. I didn’t want it to stop.” Val McDermid
“Quite simply a class act, the characters, setting, and plot fuse into the most readable and thrilling whole.” Liz Robinson, Lovereading.com Books of the Year 2021
BEST BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 “An atmospheric setting and believable dialogue.” The Sun
“The stress of being a police officer is a theme of Shaw’s absorbing series set on the Kent coastline. In The Trawlerman , DI Alexandra Cupidi is on sick leave with PTSD. The enforced inactivity allows her to make friends in the local fishing community, where she is drawn into a long-ago disappearance at sea. Despite stern warnings, she can’t keep out of an inquiry into the deaths of a much-liked local couple, who have lost their life savings in a scam. Shaw’s novels combine a strong central character with an atmospheric setting and original plots.” Joan Smith, The Sunday Times
“This fourth novel in the Cupidi series underlines Shaw’s talent at crime fiction.” Geoffrey Wansell, The Daily Mail
“Reward yourself with this gem of a book. Literally sixty seconds after I put the book down, I had to send William a message to say this is extraordinary. I can’t wait to see what comes next because this is writing at such a high level.” Quick Book Reviews Podcast
“Pacey, intense and riddled with gripping twists” Surrey Life
“The elemental landscape of the Kent coast, of eerie Dungeness and Romney Marsh, are a brooding presence in Shaw’s Alex Cupidi novels. Here, DS Alexandra Cupidi is on leave with PTSD, but when a local couple are hideously murdered, she cannot stay away. Terrific characters, and a plot involving an investment scam in Guatemala, and a Folkestone man washed from a trawler. Well, I’d say it’s fantastic, but I don’t want to go overboard.” Saga magazine
“Shaw – formerly a music journalist – has a similar knack. . . for choosing the optimal number of just the right words to conjure up those vast, empty spaces. These books are full of big skies looming heavy over low, flat horizons; place and space a character drawn as adroitly as any of the human beings, landscape and geography always much more than an enveloping background.” Angus Batey, The Quietus
“The Trawlerman is up there with the best of Shaw’s work so far, but we may have to dig out an extra star for his next book.” Jon Wise, Sunday Sport
“Atmospheric descriptions of the coast and landscape, a cast of believable characters and atwisty plot combine to create an engaging read.” Choice
Longlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger