Book of the week - Declan Hughes, The Dying Breed

I am spending some time at assorted airports this week, which provides an opportunity to catch up on some slightly older books. I have had a copy of Declan Hughes' first novel, The Wrong Kind of Blood, for a while now, but had not previously managed to get around to reading it. The Wrong Kind of Blood introduced private detective Ed Loy and was published back in 2006, being followed in 2007 by The Colour of Blood. A third novel in the series, The Dying Breed, has just been published, and is my book of the week. The author is a theatre director, and his first book has a strong visual element and a fast moving plot, and it is certainly an enjoyable read. I will look forward to catching up with the two further books in the near future. All three books are currently available as signed first editions from ABEbooks or dealers at list price, which must be a bargain. A Dying Breed seems to have been published last month in the US as The Price of Blood – the reason for the different title is unclear to me!

Bibliography

Ed Loy novels

The Wrong Kind of Blood (Murray, London, 2006)
The Colour of Blood (Murray, London 2007)
The Dying Breed (Murray, London, 2008)
All the Dead Voices (Murray, London, 2009)
City of Lost Girls (Murray, London, 2010)

Plays

Digging for Fire and New Morning (Methuen, 1994)
Plays, volume 1 (Methuen, 1998)
Shiver (Methuen, 2003)