London Fields

Writer, Samson Young, is staring death in the face, and not only his own.

Void of ideas and on the verge of terminal decline, Samson-s dash to a decaying, degenerate London has brought him through the doors of the Black Cross pub and into a murder story just waiting to be narrated.

At its centre is the mesmeric, doomed Nicola Six, destined to be murdered on her 35th birthday. Around her: the disreputable men who might yet turn out to be her killer. All Samson has to do is to write Nicola-s story as it happens, and savour in this one last gift that life has granted him.

''A true story, a murder story, a love story and a thriller bursting with humour, sex and often dazzling language'' Independent