The Wrong Hands
- Authors: Mark Billingham
- Series: Book 2 in the Detective Miller series
- Type: Novel
- Genres: Mystery
- Rank:
- Rating: 4.4 based on 6,920 reviews
- Release Date: July 23, 2024
- Print length: 416 pages (Hardcover)
About the book
This is one case Detective Miller won't want to open...
The second rip-roaring mystery from multi-award-winning international bestseller Mark Billingham starring Detective Miller: unique, unconventional, and criminally underestimated...
Unconventional Detective Declan Miller has a problem. Well, two problems. First, there's his dead wife and her yet-to-be-solved murder. He really should stop talking to her ghosts...
Second, and most pressing, a young man has just appeared on his doorstep with a briefcase... containing a pair of severed hands. Miller knows this case is proof of a contract killing commissioned by local ne'er do well Wayne Cutler - a man he suspects might also be responsible for his wife's death. Now Miller has leverage, but unfortunately, he also has something that both Cutler and a villainous fast-food kingpin are desperate to get hold of.
Sprinkle in a Midsomer Murders-obsessed hitman, a psychotic welder, and a woman driven over the edge by a wayward Crème Egg, and Miller is in a mess that even he might not be able to dance his way out of.
Accolades
Praise for The Wrong Hands
Mark Billingham is the best in the business.
A novel from Mark Billingham is always a big deal for me as he is one of the best in the world at what he does... There are so many quirky aspects of this novel that make the plot just hum... What I love most about The Wrong Hands is the consistently snappy dialogue. Declan Miller is such a unique protagonist, and his quick wit makes the series sing and zip along smartly. It is such a contrast to Mark Billingham’s brilliant Tom Thorne mysteries, which is why readers keep coming back for more.
Although the tone of these nonstop shenanigans is never exactly lighthearted, their frantic pace, the ineptness of both cops and robbers, and the constant habit of many characters of sizing up their self-performative personas make it never less than madcap.
Wryly comic, fast-paced, and sharply observed, this excellent sequel to The Last Dance will be welcomed by the author’s fans.
How about two severed hands, a hitman obsessed with the British crime show Midsomer Murders and a detective who can really dance? Welcome to Mark Billingham’s second mystery starring Detective Declan Miller, a man haunted by his dead wife (literally!) with a flair for ballroom dancing.
[The] electrifying sequel to The Last Dance... Declan remains a dashing, sharp-witted protagonist... Throw in a delightfully madcap plot and breakneck pacing, and readers are left with a caper they won’t soon forget.
[A] solidly crafted thriller and a bawdily funny caper... The outsize talent of Billingham... can be measured by the ease with which he balances this series' humor with its central tragedy.
About the author
