The Drowning Place

Author: Hilary, Sarah

Of specific Gay interest

Published on 16 April 2026 by Vintage Publishing (Harvill) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the DS Joseph Ashe' series.

Hardback | 320 pages
241 x 163 x 33 | 526g

'Gorgeously vivid, moody and unsettling – I couldn’t put this down.' RED'Will chill you to the bone ... fantastic' PAULA HAWKINS'Brilliant ... a terrific start to a series' MICK HERRON'An instant crime classic' ERIN KELLY‘Will take your breath away’ JANICE HALLETTEvery place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.

Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.

Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.

But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…PRAISE FOR SARAH HILARY:‘An astonishingly gifted writer’ MARIAN KEYES'A master of her craft... she makes the words sing' ANN CLEEVES'Sarah Hilary writes beautifully and unflinchingly' PETER JAMES'Hilary is my drop-everything writer; always original, always bang-on psychologically, always gripping' ALEX MARWOOD'Sarah Hilary has always known how to chill her readers' VAL MCDERMID