John Baker's books depress Northern tourist boards. As one of Britain's leading contemporary crime novelists, with a highly-acclaimed series featuring detective Sam Turner, Baker focuses on the underbelly of life in York. Verging away from the image of the rich tourist destination boasting high-culture, he focuses on the parts of the city where crime and violence are rife and where poverty presides.

Now in Shooting in the Dark Sam Turner returns to face his most challenging case yet. Beautiful Angeles Falco and her sister Maura have made an appointment to see Sam, but Maura, uncharacteristically, doesn't show up. Angeles is convinced that they are being stalked but there is no evidence. That is until Maura turns up horribly murdered on the moors and Sam and his crew find themselves right up to their necks in a very scary case indeed. To top it all, Geordie's brother Ralph turns up out of the blue, and he's not what you'd call an asset to the team ....

John Baker's novels have garnered much critical acclaim and with a TV series now under development, his writing career is certain to flourish.

Praise for John Baker
`Neatly plotted and engagingly and wittily written.' Daily Mail
`One of Britain's most talented contemporary crime writers.' The Times
`Brings heart, invention and wit to the business of adapting the tough?guy novel to the realities of contemporary Britain ....He has a fine eye for urban sleaze and an ear for the turn of contemporary speech.' Independent On Sunday
`A tough, gritty read in the new modern manner of the British thriller. If you're into black comedy with a touch of surrealism, then Death Minus Zero will have you chuckling through the length of its two hundred odd pages.' The Irish Times `Dry and clever, this first novel boasts a fine assortment of peripheral players, with just the right blend of amoral behaviour and a sense of justice.' San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle
`Exceedingly cunning, laid?back plot. Genial, fast and funny. Literary Review
`Great characters, idiosyncratic plot ? a definite original.' TIME OUT
`Absorbing and well written with an exciting finale.' Evening Standard `Steeped in the hard?boiled genre of Chandler and Elroy. Brilliant.' Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Set in York, Baker's debut novel is engagingly credible, off the wall, romantic without being sentimental, with a sharp sense of humour. A great cast of characters I look forward to encountering again.' Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News
`Baker is said to be one of the most highly acclaimed new crime writers on the scene, and I can understand that acclaim.' Yorkshire Evening Press

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