Oscar de Muriel – författare

A spellbinding concoction of crime, history and horror, perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Creek'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' NEW YORK TIMES'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' IAN RANKIN_______New Year's Day, 1889.In Edinburgh's lunatic asylum, a patient escapes as a nurse lays dying. Leading the manhunt are legendary local Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray and Londoner-in-exile Inspector Ian Frey. Before the murder, the suspect was heard in whispered conversation with a fellow patient - a girl who had been mute for years.What made her suddenly break her silence? And why won't she talk again? Could the rumours about black magic be more than superstition?McGray and Frey track a devious psychopath far beyond their jurisdiction, through the worst blizzard in living memory, into the shadow of Pendle Hill - home of the Lancashire witches - where unimaginable danger awaits . . ._______Praise for The Strings of Murder:'This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it' Manda Scott'One of the best debuts so far this year - a brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written. Everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review

'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' Ian RankinA spellbinding concoction of crime, history and horror - perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Creek_______Edinburgh, 1888. A violinist is murdered in his home.The dead virtuoso's maid swears she heard three musicians playing in the night. But with only one body in the locked practice room - and no way in or out - the case makes no sense.Fearing a national panic over another Ripper, Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Frey to investigate under the cover of a fake department specializing in the occult.However, Frey's new boss, Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray, actually believes in such supernatural nonsense.McGray's tragic past has driven him to superstition, but even Frey must admit that this case seems beyond reason.And once someone loses all reason, who knows what they will lose next . . ._______'This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it' Manda Scott'A great cop double-act . . . It's the pairing of the upright Frey and the unorthodox McGray that notches up the stars for this book' Sunday Sport'A brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting . . . with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written - The Strings Of Murder is everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review

'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' Ian Rankin1889. The Scottish Play is coming home.But before the darling couple of London theatre, Henry Irving & Ellen Terry, take their acclaimed Macbeth to the Edinburgh stage terror treads the boards. A grisly message found smeared across the cobbles in blood, foretelling someone's demise. As the bloody prophecies continue to appear Edinburgh's own beloved pair - Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray & Inspector Ian Frey - enter the scene. Frey scoffs at this blatant publicity stunt, while McGray is convinced of supernatural affairs. As they scrutinise the key players, they discover that Terry, Irving, and his peculiar, preoccupied assistant (one Bram Stoker) all have reasons to kill, or be killed...But one thing is clear. By occult curse or human hand, death will take bow the night the curtain rises.Praise for the Frey & McGray series:'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' Ian Rankin'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times'This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it. Oscar de Muriel is going to be a name to watch' Manda Scott'Fun to read and a fast page-turner. Love and murder - they go together like strawberries and cream' Independent'A brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written ... Everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review'Fast-paced, well-researched and thoroughly spellbinding. The mismatched pair is as entertaining as Holmes and Watson at their best' Historical Novel Society

'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times'I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic' Ian Rankin_______________A CASE FOR FREY & McGRAY The Scottish Highlands, 1889. When a young heir receives a sinister death threat, Inspectors Frey and 'Nine-Nails' McGray answer a desperate plea to offer him protection.The detectives travel north to the remote and misty Loch Maree, site of an ancient burial ground. They must stay with the mysterious Koloman family - any one of whom might be a suspect.But Frey and McGray have little time to get their bearings. Even before they arrive the boy's guardian is brutally murdered, and one thing becomes clear to the two detectives:Someone is willing to kill to protect the secrets of Loch Maree._______________Praise for the Frey & McGray series:'This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it. Oscar de Muriel is going to be a name to watch' Manda Scott'Fun to read and a fast page-turner. Love and murder - they go together like strawberries and cream' Independent'A brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written ... Everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review'Fast-paced, well-researched and thoroughly spellbinding. The mismatched pair is as entertaining as Holmes and Watson at their best' Historical Novel Society

Madame Katerina, Detective 'Nine Nails' McGray's most trusted clairvoyant, hosts a séance for three of Edinburgh's wealthiest families.The following morning everyone is found dead, with Madame Katerina being the only survivor. When questioned she alleges a tormented spirit killed the families for revenge.McGray, even though he believes her, must find a rational explanation that holds up in court, else Katerina will be sentenced to death.Inspector Ian Frey is summoned to help, which turns out to be difficult as he is still dealing with the loss of his uncle, and has developed a form of post-traumatic stress (not yet identified in the 19th century).This seems an impossible puzzle. Either something truly supernatural has occurred - or a fiendishly clever plot is covering a killer's tracks...

'Properly creepy and Gothic' IAN RANKIN on the Frey & McGray mysteries...December, 1889.There have been many bad days in Edinburgh police's secret subdivision 'The Commission for the Elucidation of Unsolved Cases Presumably Related to the Odd and Ghostly'. But today is surely the worst.Because the exiled English Inspector Ian Frey, and his Scottish boss 'Nine-Nails' McGray are summoned to a meeting in the middle of the night with the Prime Minister himself.And he tells them that Queen Victoria - the most powerful person in the world - wants them both dead.To be pardoned they must embark on a mission so dangerous that they might be saving Her Majesty the job of executing them. Because this case ties together the dark history of the Pendle witches, with the tragic case of McGray own sister, to a conspiracy within the highest office in the land...* * * * * * *Praise for the Frey & McGray mysteries:'A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery' New York Times'A fun to read fast page-turner' Independent'A brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written ... Everything you need in a mystery thriller' Crime Review'It's official: I am addicted to Frey and McGray' Christopher Fowler, author of the BRYANT & MAY series

THE FINAL FREY & McGRAY MYSTERYAll will be revealed...* * * * *The Devil Has Come to Edinburgh...An ill-fated grave-robbery unearths a corpse with a most disturbing symbol on it. When a patient in Edinburgh's lunatic asylum is murdered, the same sign is daubed in blood on the walls - the mark of the devil.The prime suspect: inmate Amy McGray, notorious for killing her parents years before. Her brother, Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray, must prove her innocence - with the help of an old friend . . .Inspector Ian Frey insists he is retired. But when called upon, he reluctantly agrees to their final case.As twists follow bombshells, leading to secrets that have been waiting in the shadows all along, all will be revealed . . .This rollicking Victorian sensationalist melodrama is the epic conclusion to the marvellous Frey & McGray mysteries.

A Frida Kahlo painting, a scandal, and secrets that threaten to change the course of historyIn 1938, showgirl-turned-socialite Dorothy Hale falls from a Manhattan skyscraper. Her friend Clare Boothe Luce – writer, diplomat and rising political figure – commissions Frida Kahlo to paint a memorial portrait.Months later, reporting from Europe, Clare encounters the Duchess of Windsor in Paris and begins to question what really happened that night. In New York, Frida, estranged from Diego Rivera, wrestles with betrayal, ambition and the demands of her art. As she works on the painting that will become one of her most unsettling, she edges closer to the truth.At the heart of this novel lies a real-life mystery: was Dorothy Hale’s death an act of despair, or something far more dangerous, entangled with the power struggles shaping the modern world?