I’m thrilled to share my book news! A series set in the Peak District, which I haunted as a child, introducing Detective Sergeant Joseph Ashe and Detective Inspector Laurie Bower. I am having huge fun writing these books, and working with the team at Harvill, and Vintage.
From the Bookseller:
Sarah Hilary’s next two novels will be published by Harvill Secker. Deputy publishing director Katie Ellis-Brown has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to two new novels from Veronique Baxter at David Higham. The first in the series, The Drowning Place, will be published in April 2026.
The Drowning Place is the first book in a haunting new police procedural series, for fans of Broadchurch and Happy Valley. Set in a fictional town steeped in history and horror, the series follows DS Joseph Ashe, a young man haunted by the ghosts of his past and struggling with survivor’s guilt, and DI Laurie Bower, an outsider fighting to fit in.
Every place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. Seventeen years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police department, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive. Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
Ellis-Brown said: “The Drowning Place is doing something unique in the procedural space, while also hitting those beats readers find so satisfying. This novel is devastating, funny, deviously clever and utterly beautiful, but its triumph is in the incredible cast of characters Sarah has created – we can’t wait to introduce them to the world.”
Hilary said: “I’m thrilled my new series has found a home with Harvill. The team’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and I’m looking forward to working with everyone there. I’ve admired Harvill’s list for a long time, which includes some of my favourite authors, and it is a particular joy to find myself amongst them.”
If you would like more details or to preorder The Drowning Place, please go here.