Dying of the Light

Midwinter, a freezing night in Leith, near Edinburghs red light district. A policewomans flashlight stabs the darkness in a snow-covered cemetery. The circle of light stops on a colourless, dead face. So begins the hunt for a serial murderer of prostitutes in Gillian Galbraiths third Alice Rice mystery, Dying of the Light. Partly inspired by the real-life killings of prostitutes in Ipswich, this novel explores a hidden world where sex is bartered for money and drugs. Off-duty, Alices home life continues its uneven course. Her romance with the artist Ian Melville offers the prospect of happiness, but is plagued by insecurity. Her demented but determined neighbour, Miss Spinnell, offers a new challenge to Alices patience at every meeting.
This atmospheric thriller builds on the success of the first two Alice Rice mysteries, Blood in the Water and Where the Shadow Falls, and it is Gillian Galbraiths most accomplished novel yet.