[DS Aector McAvoy 01] • The Dark Winter

A series of suspicious deaths have rocked Hull, a port city in England as old and mysterious as its bordering sea. They have captured the attention of Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy. He notices a pattern missed by his fellow officers, who would rather get a quick arrest than bother themselves with finding the true killer. Torn between his police duties and his aching desire to spend more time with his pregnant wife and young son, McAvoy is an unlikely hero: a physically imposing man far more comfortable exploring computer databases than throwing around his muscle. Compelled by his keen sense of justice, he decides to strike out alone—but in the depths of the dark winter, it’s difficult to forget what happened the last time he found himself on the wrong side of a killer’s blade…

From BooklistStarred Review Cops in the economically ravaged northern England city of Hull don’t know what to think of the new detective who has joined the force. Aector McAvoy is a veritable giant, and there are vague rumors that he was nearly killed bringing down a rogue cop and a contract killer. But in Hull, he is a shy computer wizard who silently wishes he could spend all his time with his pregnant wife and young son. Then there’s his name; Hull cops don’t know it’s a Scots spelling of Hector. But Aector is on the scene when a teenage girl is savagely murdered in Hull’s most historic church, and it is Aector who discovers that the girl and subsequent victims were all survivors of previous fatal tragedies. And it is Aector who must end the murderous rampage. First-novelist Mark shrewdly makes Aector an enigma for readers, too, slowly building the conflicted hero throughout the book. Equally shrewdly, he gives Aector a tough and insightful female supervisor, who, after puckishly remarking he should have come with an “owner’s manual,” ultimately unpacks her complex charge. Mark’s years as a Hull journalist, his descriptions of a blighted city “on the bones of its arse,” and winter weather that ranges from merely dismal to brutal burnish an impressive debut. John Harvey readers should take note. --Thomas Gaughan

ReviewPraise for THE DARK WINTER by David Mark:

“British crime reporter Mark’s outstanding first novel, a suspenseful whodunit, introduces Det. Sgt. Aector McAvoy…Readers will want to see more of the complicated McAvoy, who well deserves a sophisticated and disturbing plot.”

—Publisher’s Weekly (Starred)

“[A]n impressive debut. John Harvey readers should take note.”—Booklist (starred)

“With a poetic intensity in its prose, an unpredictable plot and a Scottish detective, Mark’s novel gripped me from its opening pages.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

“It will not be long until new voices in the genre are hailed as the ‘next David Mark.’”—Bookpage.com

“Fast moving and tightly plotted, with strong characterization and a likeable protagonist, this is an extremely promising debut.”

—The Guardian

 

“The Dark Winter is a promising debut by David Mark… certainly provides a trip to Hull and back.”

—The Telegraph

 

Dark Winter is a fantastic debut of a police procedural series that takes place in northern England. Just as Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy seems to be able to put himself in the mind of a killer, David Mark has developed his characters so completely that the reader can almost put himself in the mind of McAvoy as he is connecting dots that no one else even sees. McAvoy may be a gentle giant of a man but he is also determined to get at the truth even if his job is in jeopardy. Luckily, he finds a believer in his boss, another dedicated officer who also is fighting to keep her job.

—Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction

 

“The Dark Winter is an exceptional debut from an exciting new talent. David Mark is an original and captivating new voice.”

—Val McDermid