Frank let the curtain fall back across the window. “Maybe,” he said. He turned back into the room. It was a tart’s lumber, a cheap single room where punters would come up to get what they’d bought with their oncer: five minutes of slap and tickle and a dose of the clap so bad it’d peel the jewels right off. Cheap furniture, dirty clothes strewn about, unwashed pots and pans in the sink. Squalid. The business transacted inside was gruesome and desperate but it was hardly novel. Frank had seen plenty of rooms like this in Soho and Fitzrovia, especially in the last month.
A neighbour had noticed the door had been shut for three days and had stopped the local bobby. The woodentop had put his size twelve through the flimsy door and discovered the poor girl. Her body was spread out across the single divan. Her tongue protruded from between bluish lips and the bruises around her throat were dark and evocative, the shape of fingers from where they would have met beneath her chin. She had been stabbed a dozen times, probably more than a dozen, and her blood was on the walls, the floor, soaked into the bedding.
“What do you want me to do, guv?”
“Wake Spilsbury up—he better take a look.”
“What do you reckon?”
Frank looked at the girl: seventeen or eighteen if she was a day, a grim and brutal life cut short. He’d been working on the case like every other detective on the manor and he recognised the handiwork. “It’s him.”
He was sure. He’d only taken five days’ rest this time.
Whoever this poor doxy was, she was one of his.
Number five.
THE BLACK MILE is available at Amazon UK and Amazon US.
PRAISE FOR THE BLACK MILE
“This is far and above the best small/independently published novel I have ever had the pleasure of reading.” The Kindle Book Review.
“A damned fine novel.” Ivan Cotter.
“Fabulous atmosphere; believable characters; great story line. Historical crime thriller that (hate to say this) I couldn't put down!” Gill Hughes.
“Excellent hardnosed thriller.” Neil Baldwin.
“Has you hooked from the beginning to the end.” Michelle Pritchard.
“The further I got through The Black Mile, the harder and harder it got to put it down, and the longer my reading sessions became. An extremely satisfying thriller, heartily recommended and I look forward to Dawson's next book.” Jim Cliff.
“A measure of a book to me is one I would read again and The Black Mile is just such a book.” Bob Hammer.
“Mr. Dawson is a great storyteller.” Annette Gisby.
“Excellently written, very well researched, this is an interesting story grippingly told.” Sarah Hague.
“Wonderfully atmospheric period crime novel.” Carlo Dusi.
“A fantastic read.” Steve Tooker.
“The book is like a 40s, Soho, English style Homeland or Killing … I loved it.” Chris McCafferty.
“Clever, suspenseful, historically spot-on.” Brian Levine.
GET A FREE BEST-SELLER
AND EXCLUSIVE JOHN MILTON CONTENT
Building a relationship with my readers is the best thing about writing. I occasionally send newsletters with details on new releases, special offers and other bits of news relating to the John Milton, Beatrix Rose and Soho Noir series.
And if you sign up to the mailing list I’ll send you all this free stuff:
A free copy of my best-seller, The Black Mile. The book averages 4.4 out of 5 stars and usually retails for $5.99.
A copy of the highly classified background check on John Milton before he was admitted to Group 15. Exclusive to my mailing list – you can’t get this anywhere else.
COMING SOON: a copy of Tarantula, an exciting John Milton short story. Initially exclusive to my mailing list – you won’t be able to get this anywhere else.
You can get the novel, the background check and the short story, for free, by signing up here
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK…
…I would really, really appreciate it if you would help others to enjoy it, too. Reviews are like gold dust and they help persuade other readers to give the stories a shot. More readers means more incentive for me write and that means there will be more stories, more quickly.
US
UK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Dawson is the author of the breakout John Milton, Beatrix Rose and Soho Noir series. He makes his online home at www.markjdawson.com. You can connect with Mark on Twitter at @pbackwriter, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ markdawsonauthor and you should send him an email at [email protected] if the mood strikes you.
ALSO BY MARK DAWSON
Have you read them all?
In the Soho Noir Series
Gaslight
When Harry and his brother Frank are blackmailed into paying off a local hood they decide to take care of the problem themselves. But when all of London's underworld is in thrall to the man's boss, was their plan audacious or the most foolish thing that they could possibly have done?
Free to download here
The Black Mile
London, 1940: the Luftwaffe blitzes London every night for fifty-seven nights. Houses, shops and entire streets are wiped from the map. The underworld is in flux: the Italian criminals who dominated the West End have been interned and now their rivals are fighting to replace them. Meanwhile, hidden in the shadows, the Black-Out Ripper sharpens his knife and sets to his grisly work.
Buy it here
The Imposter
War hero Edward Fabian finds himself drawn into a criminal family’s web of vice and soon he is an accomplice to their scheming. But he's not the man they think he is - he's far more dangerous than they could possibly imagine.
Buy it here