'If you read one book this year, make sure it's this one' Daily MailCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY MAIL, FINANCIAL TIMES, DAILY EXPRESS AND i PAPERWINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD FOR FICTION SELECTED FOR THE BBC TWO BOOK CLUB BETWEEN THE COVERS AND THE RADIO 2 JO WHILEY BOOK CLUBAn impossible murder A remarkable detective duo A demon who may or may not exist It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be tried for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. But no sooner is the Saardam out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. Strange symbols appear on the sails.Livestock are slaughtered. Ominous whispers travel throughout the crowded decks. And then comes the first murder.With Pipps imprisoned in the depths of the ship, can his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, solve the mystery before the ship descends into anarchy?'A glorious mash-up of William Golding and Arthur Conan Doyle' Val McDermid'A superb historical mystery: inventive, twisty, addictive and utterly beguiling ... A TRIUMPH' Will Dean From the author of the dazzling The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award, comes an audacious and original new high concept murder mystery.