Prayer for the Dead (Inspector Mclean, 5) - Softcover

Praise for Prayer for the Dead
"Eerie...This series just keeps getting better, and loyal fans and new readers alike will be pleased."
--Publishers Weekly

"Yet another police procedural on steroids, a case made even more bizarre by Oswald's trademark hints of the supernatural, impossible to put down."
--Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Inspector McLean series:
"A gritty police procedural with incredible twists."
--Robert Dugoni, #1 Amazon and New York Times bestselling author of My Sisters Grave on Dead Men's Bones

"Readers who stay the course will be rewarded with an explosive ending and will agree with McLean that the best part of the job is 'the hunt for clues, the slow puzzling out of just what had happened.'"
--Booklist on Dead Men's Bones

"Oswald's fourth is a house of horrors that adds an above-par mystery to the usual supernatural touches."
--Kirkus Reviews on Dead Men's Bones

"Oswald's detective gives John Rebus a run for his money."
--Kirkus Reviews on The Book of Souls

"Engrossing...Readers will eagerly await the next installment."
--Publishers Weekly on The Book of Souls

"McLean is a reluctant, empathetic hero who refuses to quit until he's solved the case."
--Publishers Weekly on The Hangman's Song

"Readers who like character-driven murder mysteries such as those by John Connolly or Val MacDermid will enjoy McLean's debut outing and clamor for more."
--Library Journal Xpress Reviews on Natural Causes

"Crime fiction's next big thing."
--The Sunday Telegraph (UK)

"Oswald is among the leaders in the new batch of excellent Scottish crime writers"
--Daily Mail (UK)

"The hallmarks of Val McDermid or Ian Rankin."
--The Herald (UK)

"An excellent start to what promises to be a fine series."
--The Guardian (UK)

Detective Inspector Tony McLean is on the case when the search for a missing journalist uncovers the scene of a carefully staged murder. In a sealed chamber, deep in the heart of Gilmerton Cove, a mysterious network of caves and passages sprawling beneath Edinburgh, the body is discovered in a seemingly macabre ritual of purification. But McLean knew the dead man and can't shake off the suspicion that there is far more to this case than meets the eye.

For one thing, the baffling lack of forensics at the crime scene seems impossible. But that's just the first in a series of revelations about this case that seems beyond belief. Teamed with the most unlikely and unwelcome of allies, McLean must track down a killer--driven by the darkest compulsions and who will answer only to a higher power--until it's his own blood on the altar.

Shocking and suspenseful, Prayer for the Dead, the fifth installment in James Oswald's internationally bestselling series, plunges readers into the bone-chilling darkness of an underground world filled with ancient secrets.