This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book - I loved it. Oscar de Muriel is going to be a name to watch.

One of the best debuts so far this year - a brilliant mix of horror, history, and humour. Genuinely riveting with plenty of twists, this will keep you turning the pages. It's clever, occasionally frightening and superbly written - The Strings Of Murder is everything you need in a mystery thriller.

Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when Susan Hill does the result is stunning

Exhilarating… These books succeed in harnessing all the genre’s addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own

All the ingredients for the perfect English crime novel are here

She captures sinister atmosphere brilliantly...her characters are drawn with loving detail

Eagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fiction

Susan Hill writes as an honest and disturbing witness to our times

The real joy of the Serrailler series is Serrailler himself…rich in incident and intrigue

Nothing’s quite as it seems, except Hill's brilliantly compelling prose

A wonderful storyteller… she is also one of those rare crime writers whose books invite a second reading

Hill's Serrailler novels have developed into a series whose appeal stretches beyond their genre... The secret of Hill's narrative style is that she forces the readers to invest emotionally in her characters. And then she makes ghastly things happen to them... It sounds easy, but it isn't

The Simon Serrailler novels are in a league of their own; literate, detailed and full of drama - they stand head and shoulders above the majority of crime novels. This is the eighth novel in the series and is the darkest and most disturbing yet. It is also the best.

Kept me turning the pages, gripped

Although at times distressing, Hill tackles a difficult issue without losing any tension and the finale keeps the reader gripped until the last page

Never less than wholly absorbing

Highly unsettling

A tantalising mystery

Captures sinister atmosphere brilliantly