Lady Jail - (Émile Cinq-Mars Thriller) by John Farrow (Hardcover)

About the Book

Quebec, 1994. Fraud artist Abigail is the newest arrival at the Joliette Institution for Women. When a prisoner is found dead in a toilet stall, Sergeant-Detective �mile Cinq-Mars is summoned from Montreal to investigate, as he put Abigail away - and now she's the prime suspect. But he'll soon discover that in Lady Jail, nothing is as it seems ...

Book Synopsis

Sergeant-Detective Emile Cinq-Mars is summoned to Quebec to investigate a murder in this locked-room mystery with a twist: the victim is a criminal, and the suspects are already locked up . . .

Quebec, 1994. Fraud artist Abigail, the newest arrival at the Joliette Institution for Women, is struggling to adjust to the prison's communal quarters. Her fellow inmates only give out the bare bones of their crimes, and it's quite the roll call. Doi took a hatchet to her own daughter. Malka poisoned her husband. And that's just for starters. Abigail keeps her head down, does her best to make friends with the band of killers, tries to survive.

But on an ordinary, quiet day, the extraordinary happens: a prisoner is found face-down in a toilet stall, a strangulation wire around her neck. Trouble, Abigail realises, is ahead.

Sergeant-Detective Emile Cinq-Mars is summoned from Montreal to investigate. He put Abigail away - and now she's the prime suspect. But other, darker, forces are interested in Abigail, and Emile interferes at his own peril. For as he'll soon discover, in Lady Jail, nothing is as it seems . . .

From the Back Cover

"One of my favorite series. I love �mile Cinq-Mars!" Lee Child "Fans of Bill James' Harpur and Iles saga of cops and robbers are in for quite a treat" Kirkus Reviews Starred Review of Roar Back "Gripping . . . Cinq-Mars's wry, often amusing observations spice up the action" Publishers Weekly on Roar Back "A fine, character-rich mystery" Booklist on Ball Park "Good interplay between the characters [. . .] keeps the tension high. Fans of character-driven police procedurals will be satisfied" Publishers Weekly on Ball Park

Review Quotes

A fine, character-rich mystery-- "Booklist on Ball Park"

Good interplay between the characters, each with a distinctive voice, keeps the tension high. Fans of character-driven police procedurals will be satisfied-- "Publishers Weekly on Ball Park"

Remarkable stuff. Fans of Bill James' Harpur and Iles saga of cops and robbers are in for quite a treat-- "Kirkus Reviews Starred Review of Roar Back"

The perfect read-alike for Louise Penny's Armand Gamache novels-- "Booklist on Perish the Day"

"Farrow keeps the story's development as intense as the claustrophobic setting until he's ready to unleash a bravura, hyperextended denouement. A wonderful corrective for your pandemic-induced cabin fever. Yes, things could be much, much worse" - Kirkus Reviews

"Enjoyable ... Fans of intelligent police procedurals will be rewarded" - Publishers Weekly

About the Author

John Farrow is the pseudonym of Trevor Ferguson, a Canadian novelist and playwright with eight previous novels in the �mile Cinq-Mars thriller series and seven literary novels under his own name. Booklist has called the series 'one of the best' in crime fiction. Die Zeit in Germany has called it the best of all time.