London, 1842. A mysterious and horrible death at the Reform, London’s newest and grandest gentleman’s club, is hushed up. Amateur private inquiry agent Captain William Avery is persuaded to investigate, and soon discovers a web of rivalries and hatreds, both personal and political, simmering behind the club’s handsome façade—and in particular surrounding its resident genius, Alexis Soyer, ‘the Napoleon of food’, a chef whose culinary brilliance is matched only by his talent for self-publicity. [ Read More ]

Victorian London, 1841. A series of hideous murders in the world of the gutter press. Dark and mysterious forces operating to prevent their investigation. Simmering rivalries between grub street printers, Evangelical missionaries and would-be revolutionaries.

Three years after they last saw each other in India, Jeremiah Blake and William Avery must combine forces again to fight their way to the truth. But after four years apart, are their differences too great to overcome? [ Read More ]

Calcutta 1837. The acclaimed first book in M.J. Carter’s Blake and Avery series follows William Avery, a down-at-heel junior officer in the East India Company’s army, and Jeremiah Blake, a brilliant but taciturn special inquiry agent, set out on a secret mission: to track down the notorious adventurer, spy and poet Xavier Mountstuart.

The Strangler Vine was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger and the HWA Debut Crown, and longlisted for the Bailey’s Prize 2015 and the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year. [ Read More ]

This just in: The Devil’s Feast is out now in hardback