River Clyde

Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley travels to Scotland to face the demons of her past, as Hamburg is hit by a major arson attack. Queen of Krimi, Simone Buchholz, returns with the emotive fifth instalment in the electrifying Chastity Riley series ...

' A modern classic' Paul Burke, CrimeTime

' Written in crackling prose and with searing insight, this is a deeply heartfelt slice of existential noir - utterly unique' Doug Johnstone

' Deftly captures the beating heart of Glasgow' Herald Scotland

' A beautifully crafted exploration of grief and redemption, wrapped in a love letter to Glasgow ... Glorious writing' Will Carver

' Reading Buchholz is like walking on firecrackers ... a truly unique voice in crime fiction' Graeme Macrae Burnet

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Mired in grief after tragic recent events, state prosecutor Chastity Riley escapes to Scotland, lured to the birthplace of her great-great-grandfather by a mysterious letter suggesting she has inherited a house.

In Glasgow, she meets Tom, the ex-lover of Chastity's great aunt, who holds the keys to her own family secrets - painful stories of unexpected cruelty and loss that she's never dared to confront.

In Hamburg, Stepanovic and Calabretta investigate a major arson attack, while a group of property investors kicks off an explosion of violence that threatens everyone.

As events in these two countries collide, Chastity prepares to face the inevitable, battling the ghosts of her past and the lost souls that could be her future and, perhaps, finally finding redemption for them all.

Breathtakingly emotive, River Clyde is an electrifying, poignant and powerful story of damage and hope, and one woman's fight for survival.

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' In just a few words - a light brushstroke - Simone paints such a vivid picture. Unlike any crime novel I've read. I loved it' Michael J. Malone

' Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space' Independent

Praise for the Chastity Riley series

' [A] nerve-racking narrative ... [with] a cunning climax that is shocking and deeply romantic' The Times

'Combines nail-biting tension with off-beat humor ... Elmore Leonard fans will be enthralled' Publishers Weekly

'Buchholz doles out delicious black humor ... interwoven in a manner that ramps up the intrigue and tension' Foreword Reviews

' Modern noir, with taut storytelling, a hard-bitten heroine, and underlying melancholy peppered with wry humour' New Zealand Listener

' The coolest character in crime fiction ... darkly funny and written with a huge heart' Big Issue

' Fierce enough to stab the heart' Spectator

' A stylish, whip-smart thriller' Herald Scotland

' Combines slick storytelling with substance ... like a straight shot of top-shelf liquor: smooth yet fiery, packing a punch with no extraneous ingredients watering things down' Mystery Scene

' With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation' Maxim Jakubowski

' A smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on society' CultureFly

' Fans of Brookmyre could do worse than checking out Simone Buchholz, a star of the German crime lit scene who has been deftly translated into English by Rachel Ward' Goethe Institute

' Lyrical and pithy' Sunday Times

Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having always been an avid reader and enjoyed word games and puzzles, she discovered a flair for languages at school and went on to study modern languages at the University of East Anglia. She spent the third year working as a language assistant at two grammar schools in Saaebrücken, Germany. During her final year, she realized that she wanted to put these skills and passions to use professionally and applied for UEA's MA in Literary Translation, which she completed in 2002.

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied philosophy and literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award and was runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The next in the Chastity Riley series, Beton Rouge, won the Radio Bremen Crime Fiction Award and Best Economic Crime Novel 2017.