Pagans, James Alistair Henry

Britain, 2023… only in this Britain, the Norman Conquest of 1066 never happened. An uneasy alliance of ancient tribes – the Celtic West, Saxon East and an independent Nordic Scotland – has formed, but the fragile peace is threatened by a series of brutal murders. Members of a mysterious ‘Fisher’ cult are being killed one by one. The gruesome case brings together two mismatched police detectives: Captain Aedith, daughter of the powerful Saxon leader, Earl Lod of Mercia, and Inspector Drustan, from the beleaguered – and mistrusting – Celts. As the threat rises, the detectives must put aside their personal differences to follow the trail, even when they uncover forces behind the killings that go deeper than they could ever have imagined – into their own murky pasts. Set in a world that’s far from our own and yet captivatingly familiar, Pagans explores contemporary themes of religious conflict, nationalism and prejudice in a smart, witty and refreshingly different police procedural that keeps you guessing until the very end.