Will Shindler’s brilliant debut crime novel, The Burning Men, is published today by Hodder & Stoughton.
The novel follows a team of firefighters who make a split decision that will seal their fates…
When a high rise development in South London catches fire mid-construction, a close-knit team of fire fighters tackle the blaze. But during the course of the night they find a man unconscious, suffering from smoke inhalation. He’s carrying several cases full of money.
The fire crew make a fateful decision and leave the man to die, stealing his cases and splitting the cash between them. In the months that follow they appear to have got away with it, and one by one they retire quietly on the proceeds.
But five years later one of them dies, set alight at his own wedding. When a second is murdered, DI Alex Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen begin to uncover the secret which binds these men together.
Finn and Paulsen are an unlikely pairing, but with both in need of a distraction after their recent traumas, they may need each other more than they realise…
Hodder & Stoughton organised a fire engine to arrive at Harrogate Crime Festival last summer to celebrate this fabulous novel, and the cover was revealed in this creepy video:
Early reviews have been fantastic:
“An unmissable debut” Sunday Express
“Great crime fiction that I recommend highly” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
“Overall, this is an author I will be looking out for in the future and who has a very promising future. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
“I thoroughly enjoyed it. An intelligent police drama with an excellent and realistic plot, no annoying loose ends but plenty of future possibility.” Goodreads reviewer, 5 Stars
Will has been a Broadcast Journalist for the BBC for over twenty-five years, spending a decade working in television drama as a scriptwriter on Born and Bred, The Bill and Doctors.
You can currently find him every weekday on the radio reading the news headlines, whilst writing crime novels in the afternoon. Will has previously worked as a television presenter for HTV, a sports reporter for BBC Radio Five Live, and one of the stadium presenters at the London Olympics.
