Struggling to make ends meet, private detective Joseph Tremaine Ellington sees a way to make some easy cash when approached by Ida Stephens, the administrator of a local orphanage. She offers him GBP500 to locate a disgraced Jamaican GP, Dr Ronald Fowler.

'It's quite simple, Mr Ellington. When you find Fowler, just ask where we can find the truth.' It's a straightforward case. Find the doctor and retrieve the stolen documentation. Yet following in the footsteps of Dr Fowler unearths more than expected. An illicit secret, a sticky end outside a gangland pub and the words of a dying man whose reputation is in tatters. Though he is relentless in his pursuit of the truth, the streets of 1960s Bristol lead JT Ellington into a tight corner, as demons of the past pursue him as implacably and relentlessly as the devil himself. And when JT concludes his search, it's a truth more disturbing and deadlier than he could ever have imagined. 'A brilliant second offering!' DERMOT O'LEARY 'This is terrific crime fiction - evocative, socially aware and gripping - and JT Ellington is a compelling protagonist.' MARK BILLINGHAM, on Restless Coffins