A Traitor to His Blood

Summary

Gritty, tender and moving, A Traitor to His Blood follows the adventures of reluctant Bajan private eye JT Ellington as he returns to 1980s Bristol.

St Pauls, Bristol, 1980. Joseph Tremaine Ellington, now 57 years old, has long abandoned his former career as an enquiry agent for the safety of teaching. But his old life draws him back.

One of the very few lights from Ellington’s dark and violent past has flickered out. His fiancée Ruth Castle is dead – leaving him again heartbroken and alone to bring up his 15-year-old niece, Chloe. Ellington’s days are long and lonely, his nights tormented by old ghosts.

When the wife of a locally respected Baptist minister vanishes into a seamy, dead-end world of users and abusers, leaving behind both her own family and a critically fragile premature infant daughter, Ellington is asked if he can help find the woman.

Joseph is determined to keep his distance from the dangers of the Bristol night. But his inescapable obligation to an old friend, a man he deeply respects, keeps bringing him back like a moth to a flame.

'This is terrific crime fiction – evocative, socially aware and gripping – and JT Ellington is a compelling protagonist.' Mark Billingham

'Page-turning historical detective fiction at its finest, picks you up and puts you right in 60s Britain, and its underbelly ... say hello to Barbadian/Bristolian noir.’ Dermot O'Leary, author of Toto the Ninja Cat