The Departed - No peace for the living, if you can't bury the dead...

''Ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath'' St. Joseph, patron of departing souls - pray for me.'' Liverpool, 1979: new CID recruit Leigh Borrowdale is seconded to a disturbing murder inquiry: a mysterious death in a decaying building, where the remains of a young man have been found. Tasked with looking into missing persons'' cases to track down the identity of the victim, Leigh comes into contact with the disappeared of a city living through its darkest days of the winter of discontent. As she faces her own family demons and battles the male-dominated world at work, Leigh discovers a connection to two boys feared drowned in the Mersey and links to the murky Liverpool underworld. Through it all her only ally is her colleague, DS Des Chung, who knows what it means to be an outsider in the police force, albeit one who takes a very different approach. Twisting, deeply atmospheric and never losing sight of the human cost at the centre of every case, THE DEPARTED marks the debut of a major new talent in crime-writing.

About the author

Sarah Mellor is a first-time novelist and therapist in her adopted city of Liverpool, where she has lived for nearly 30 years. As a psychotherapist in the NHS, she worked daily with the people of Liverpool, mainly in the inner-city areas of Toxteth and Kensington, where many lives were affected by crime. She kickstarted the process of writing this novel by attending an Arvon crime-writing course and taking part in the Literary Consultancy’s mentoring programme.

Product details

• Authors: Sarah Mellor
• Publisher: Harper Collins Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 13.03.2025
• EAN: 9780008716219
• ISBN: 978-0-00-871621-9
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 240 mm x 33 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural, FICTION / Historical / General, FICTION / Women, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Historical mysteries, Crime & mystery, Liverpool, FICTION / Thrillers / Crime, 20th Century, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, FICTION / Noir, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Historical crime & mysteries, Crime & mystery: police procedural, Fiction: general and literary, Crime & mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction