William Shaw - Author
About the Author
William Shaw was born in Newton Abbot, Devon, grew up in Nigeria and lived for sixteen years in Hackney. For over twenty years he has written on popular culture and sub-culture for various publications including the Observer and the New York Times. A Song from Dead Lips is his first novel, which is followed by the next in the series, A House of Knives. He lives in Brighton.
Featured books by William Shaw
Deadland
In what is promising to be an assured series, Deadland sits as a gripping, fabulous read in its own right. Two 17 year old lads end up in a whole heap of trouble when they steal a mobile phone, meanwhile DS Alexandra Cupidi returns to investigate a severed limb, but without the rest of the body is there actually a murder to investigate? The first in this DS Alexandra Cupidi Investigation series by William Shaw is Salt Lane, with the standalone The Birdwatcher taking place before, but also linking to the series. So there are a couple of recommended stops to make before potentially embarking on Deadland. I just slipped straight into the storyline, I immediately felt at home, there was a fresh feeling of reality and I didn’t question, just read. DS Cupidi is a really strong lead, the relationship with her daughter adding a contrasting note of tension. There is a wonderful balance between the investigations taking place, and the story of Benjamin and Joseph, the links starting to tighten as the story progresses. Dungeness thrusts itself into the story, the social aspects substantial and compelling. Deadland is an absolutely fascinating read, one that I highly recommend and I have chosen it as one of my Liz Robinson picks of the month.
Salt Lane
Salt Lane is the start to an assured, intelligent, and fascinating series. Kent as a location broods its way through the story while DS Cupidi is a strong lead. The Birdwatcher is a standalone novel but also links to this fabulous series. Books in The DS Alexandra Cupidi Series: 1. Salt Lane 2. Deadland 3. Grave's End Serial Reader? Check out our 'Fall in Love With a Book Series' collection to find amazing book series to dive in to.
A Song from Dead Lips
London, 1968. The Runaway. A young woman is found naked and strangled in an alley in well-to-do St John's Wood. The African. The neighbours would love to pin it on the enigmatic black stranger who has just moved in. The Pariah. Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen is convinced there's more to the case than anyone wants to admit; no-one's listening. The Outsider. In walks WPC Helen Tozer - awkward chatterbox, farmgirl, and the first woman to enter the murder unit - and gives Breen a breakthrough. A Song from Dead Lips is a crime thriller that shows the glorified sixties close-up, as it really was - comfortably sexist, racially prejudiced, class-bound and crawling with corruption.
Other books by William Shaw
The Trawlerman
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.
Grave's End
'If you're not a fan yet, why not?' VAL MCDERMID 'A superb storyteller' PETER MAY A BIZARRE DISCOVERY An unidentified corpse is found in a freezer in the garage of an unoccupied house. DS Alexandra Cupidi is handed a case that is made even colder by no-one seeming to know or care whose body it is. A HISTORIC CRIME It becomes clear there is a connection between the crime and a skeleton uncovered underneath a housing development of Trevor Grey, a boy who went missing twenty five years earlier. A BURIED LIFE Digging deep into secrets that have long been concealed brings Cupidi to face a deadly conspiracy to hide these crimes. Her investigation is complicated by a secret liaison, a political cover-up and the underground life of Trevor Grey's only friend. With meticulously realised characters and a brooding setting, Grave's End confronts the crisis in housing, environmentalism, historic cases of abuse and the protection given to badgers by the law. The third book in the DS Alexandra Cupidi series confirms William Shaw as one of our finest writers of crime fiction.
An Analysis of the Galic Language. by William Shaw, A.M. the Second Edition
An Analysis of the Galic Language. by William Shaw, A.M. the Second Edition by William Shaw
Sympathy for the Devil
'Big treat in store for fans. And if you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid 'William Shaw is one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction' Peter James London 1969: A detective in love. A crime of passion The devil: She made a profit from rich men. They paid for her youth. She paid with her life. The angel: To investigate the prostitute's murder, DS Cathal Breen isn't scared to question powerful suspects. The fall: But when a mysterious man from MI6 calls, Breen begins to fear he's uncovered a spy scandal. And then Breen's girlfriend Helen Tozer, with her ex-copper instincts, gets dangerously involved. Right or wrong, Breen knows he has too much to lose. He can have no sympathy for the devil.
Breen & Tozer Investigation Omnibus: A Song from Dead Lips, A House of Knives, A Book of Scars
In the first three novels of the Breen & Tozer Investigations, an outcast detective fights crime and corruption in sixties London.'An outstanding storyteller' Peter MayWilliam Shaw grips the reader by the throat from page one, and never lets go' Independent'Superb crime novels . . . combines nostalgic period detail with an emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Sunday TimesA SONG FROM DEAD LIPSThe Runaway: A nameless young woman is found naked and strangled in an alley on Abbey Road.The Reject: DS Cathal Breen, an outcast in the Marylebone CID, struggles to make sense of the case. The Rookie: Until new recruit WPC Helen Tozer - the first woman to join the team - makes a breakthrough.And as hippies slam doors in their face, and locals suspect the new African neighbours, Breen and Tozer tread down a perilous path, closing in on a cruel conspiracy that goes far beyond class, colour and creed.A HOUSE OF KNIVESThe Black Sheep: The wayward son of a rising MP is mutilated and burnt in suspicious circumstances.The Honest Detective: DS Cathal Breen dodges political embargo and death threats to pursue the case.The Rolling Stone: Notorious art dealer Robert Fraser may provide the only clue - if only he will talk.And as Breen slips deeper into London's underground of hippies and heroin, he edges nearer to the secrets of those at the very top. Banished from a corrupt and fracturing system, he will finally be forced to fight fire with fire.A BOOK OF SCARSNever forgotten: Teenager Alexandra Tozer was murdered on her family's farm. Five years later, her sister Helen will return. Never suspected: As soon as DS Breen tracks down the original investigating sergeant, the man goes missing. And so does Helen. Never revealed: The only connection between the suspects is the Kenya Emergency - a nightmare that Englishmen prefer to forget. But others remember. Every bloody detail. And when another woman is taken, Breen fears that history - in all its shame and horror - is coming back to haunt them.
Birdwatcher
Police Sergeant William South has a good reason to shy away from murder investigations: he is a murderer himself.**Longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the YearA methodical, diligent, and exceptionally bright detective, South is an avid birdwatcher and trusted figure in his small town on the rugged Kentish coast. He also lives with the deeply buried secret that, as a child in Northern Ireland, he may have killed a man. When a fellow birdwatcher is found murdered in his remote home, South's world flips.The culprit seems to be a drifter from South's childhood; the victim was the only person connecting South to his early crime; and a troubled, vivacious new female sergeant has been relocated from London and assigned to work with South. As our hero investigates, he must work ever-harder to keep his own connections to the victim, and his past, a secret.The Birdwatcher is British crime fiction at its finest; a stirring portrait of flawed, vulnerable investigators; a meticulously constructed mystery; and a primal story of fear, loyalty and vengeance.
The Birdwatcher
WHAT DRIVES GOOD MEN TO MURDER? 'If you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid 'The most gripping book I've read in years. William Shaw is, quite simply, an outstanding storyteller' Peter May 'Grips the reader by the throat and never lets go' Independent Sergeant William South has always avoided investigating murder. A passionate birdwatcher and quiet man, he has few relationships and prefers it that way. But when his only friend is found brutally beaten, South's detachment is tested. Not only is he bereft - it seems that there's a connection between the suspect and himself. For South has a secret. He knows the kind of rage that killed his friend. He knows the kind of man who could do it. He knows, because Sergeant William South himself is a murderer. Moving from the storm-lashed, bird-wheeling skies of the Kent Coast to the wordless war of the Troubles, The Birdwatcher is a crime novel of suspense, intelligence and powerful humanity about fathers and sons, grief and guilt and facing the darkness within.
A Book of Scars
PEACE IS OUT. REVENGE IS ON. 'William Shaw is one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction' Peter James 'If you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid 'An emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year Never forgotten Teenager Alexandra Tozer was murdered on her family's farm. Five years later, her sister Helen will return. Never suspected As soon as DS Breen tracks down the original investigating sergeant, the man goes missing. And so does Helen. Never revealed The only connection between the suspects is the Kenya Emergency - a nightmare that Englishmen prefer to forget. But others remember. Every bloody detail. And when another woman is taken, Breen fears that history - in all its shame and horror - is coming back to haunt them.
A House of Knives
GET HIGH. FALL FAR. 'William Shaw is one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction' Peter James 'If you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid 'Utterly nails the myth of the Swinging Sixties' Sun The Black Sheep The wayward son of a rising MP is mutilated and burnt in suspicious circumstances. The Honest Detective DS Cathal Breen dodges political embargo and death threats to pursue the case. The Rolling Stone Notorious art dealer Robert Fraser may provide the only clue - if only he will talk. And as Breen slips deeper into London's underground of hippies and heroin, he edges nearer to the secrets of those at the very top. Banished from a corrupt and fracturing system, he will finally be forced to fight fire with fire.
An Analysis of the Galic Language. by William Shaw, A.M. the Second Edition.
An Analysis of the Galic Language. by William Shaw, A.M. the Second Edition. by William Shaw
Westsiders
The phenomenal success of Los Angelinos like N.W.A, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Coolio, Snoop, Dr.Dre and Warren G. means that every block in Southcentral contains at least one boy who wants to be a rapper. Westsiders is a book about seven young men, all of whom are trying to make it in the rap business. It follows the changes in their musical and personal lives as they try and get shows, auditions, record demos in an increasingly shark-filled market-place. A few have been, or are, gang members. Some have straight jobs, others are drug dealers. Some have stable backgrounds, others were raised by grandparents, aunts or single mothers. Some love gangsta rap with a passion, and want to keep faith with it: others want to move on to something more positive. What they all share is the experience of growing up in a place that is far more violent than the one their parents grew up in. They have to navigate the loyalties of neighbourhood and friendship. All have lost close friends or relatives in the violence.
Contemporary Ethics
Aimed at undergraduates, Contemporary Ethics presupposes little or no familiarity with ethics and is written in a clear and engaging style. It provides students with a sympathetic but critical guide to utilitarianism, explaining its different forms and exploring the debates it has spawned. The book leads students through a number of current issues in contemporary ethics that are connected to controversies over and within utilitarianism. At the same time, it uses utilitarianism to introduce students to ethics as a subject. In these ways, the book is not only a guide to utilitarianism, but also an introduction to some standard problems of ethics and to several important topics in contemporary ethical theory.