Jackie Malone has been murdered. Her body lies in a pool of blood in the north London flat where she worked as a prostitute. Deep knife wounds have been gouged into her corpse and her hands and feet are tied with coat hanger wire.

For Detective Inspector Jack Delaney this is no ordinary case. He was a friend of Jackie's and she left desperate messages on his answer phone just hours before she was killed. Despite no immediate leads and no obvious suspects, the fear in her voice tells him that this was not a random act of violence.

Just as Delaney begins his investigation, a young girl is reported missing, feared abducted, and he is immediately tasked with finding her. Delaney knows he must act quickly if there is any chance of finding her alive, but he is also determined to track down Jackie's killer before the trail goes cold. However, his tough and uncompromising attitude has made him some powerful enemies on the force, and Delaney soon finds that this case may provide the perfect opportunity for them to dispose of him, once and for all...

A cracking debut, matching gore with suspense. His TV scripting experience shows * Bookseller *
Pearson scores a hit first time out with Jack Delaney, a hard drinking, Country and Western-loving, maverick that fans of John Rebus and Jack Regan will love * Daily Record *
A brand new series from a seasoned scriptwriter, featuring a no-nonsense London DI Jack Delaney **** (4 stars out of 5) * Daily Mirror *
Intriguing ... with plenty of double crosses, dummies and feints. The second Jack Delaney novel is due out in August ... and he's already hard to forget * Time Out *

For the last ten years Mark Pearson has worked as a full-time television scriptwriter on a variety of shows for the BBC and ITV, including Doctors, Holby City and The Bill. He lives in Norfolk. Hard Evidence is his first novel and he is currently writing Blood Work, the second book in the Jack Delaney series, which will be published by Arrow in August 2009.