The Silent House of Sleep

A pathologist, haunted by his service during WWI, investigates two murders in post-war London in this Bloody Scotland Debut Prize winner

Death is a lonely business . . . 

No one who meets Dr. Jack Cuthbert forgets him. Tall, urbane, and brilliant, the Scottish pathologist is the best that Scotland Yard’s new detective chief inspector has seen. But Cuthbert is also a damaged man—a man who lives with secrets, and who still battles demons brought back from the trenches even ten years after the end of the Great War. 

When not one but two corpses are discovered in a London park in the winter of 1929, Cuthbert must use every tool at his disposal, including cutting-edge forensics of the period, to solve the mystery of their deaths. In the end, the horrifying truth is more shocking than even he could have imagined.

Gripping and gritty, The Silent House of Sleep is a highly original debut historical mystery that introduces one of the most intriguing new protagonists in recent memory. It’s sure to leave readers hotly anticipating the next case for Dr. Jack Cuthbert.

Riveting . . . makes for compelling reading.”
—The Scotsman

Allan Gaw studied medicine at Glasgow University and trained as a pathologist. Having worked in the NHS and universities in the UK and the US, he took early retirement and now devotes his time to writing. His published non-fiction works include medical textbooks and magazine articles on topics as diverse as the thalidomide story, the medical challenges of space travel and the medico-legal consequences of the Hillsborough disaster.