title: A Cold-blooded Scoundrel: An Inspector Devlin Mystery
author:  J. S. Cook 
description: The debut of a major new crime series from a celebrated Canadian author! In London, with Jack the Ripper's crimes still raw in the great city's memory, a well-known male prostitute is brutally murdered, the head neatly severed, and the body set on fire. Detective Inspector Phillip Devlin of Scotland Yard, mid-thirties and secretly gay, is called to the murder scene by plainclothes constable Freddie Collins, and soon both Collins and Devlin are caught in a web of intrigue as more savage murders occur. A Cold-Blooded Scoundrel resonates with the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of 1880s London. Witty and engaging, it unfolds the story of a man who must brave not only the killer but also his own inner demons in order to end the violence that is harrowing the city.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  ![Mercury Falling](../images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## About the Book
  
  
  The Fens, 1954.
  
  
  It has been another tough winter.
  
  
  Temperatures have plummeted and the
  
  
  ground is heavy with water. The Fenlands
  
  
  are alive with blackmarketeers, vagabonds
  
  
  and chancers, all trying to make their way.
  
  
  The shadow of the war still hangs over
  
  
  these lands. Many people have lost
  
  
  everything. Others just want the chance
  
  
  to begin again. For Jimmy Devlin, both
  
  
  are true.
  
  
  Forced from his home by bailiffs, Devlin
  
  
  must make a fresh start. He has nothing
  
  
  to his name. His only option is digging the
  
  
  drainage ditches the Fens so urgently need.
  
  
  But desperate people have a knack of
  
  
  finding trouble and he is no exception. It
  
  
  doesn’t take long before he’s in a downward
  
  
  spiral, caught in the wrong business with
  
  
  the wrong people and on the wrong side
  
  
  of the law …
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Contents
  
  
  [Cover](cover.xhtml)
  
  
  [About the Book](about_book.xhtml#abt001)
  
  
  [Title Page](title_page.xhtml)
  