The House of Fame

Hailed by Val McDermid as “a beguiling bastard of a hero,” Oliver Harris’s shrewd, cynical, and brilliant London detective, Nick Belsey, investigates a child’s disappearance in this third novel (after the “heart-pounding”Deep Shelter).

Anyone would want Amber Knight’s life. Twenty-seven, rich and beautiful, she’s living the dream. Her solo music career has eclipsed those of her former bandmates, and she has the cars and clothes and houses that go along with her position at the top of the A-List.

So why has she started acting so strangely?

At least, that’s how it seems to Nick Belsey. A less-celebrated resident of North London, Belsey’s decade-long career at Hampstead CID is coming to an abrupt end but he still can’t seem to kick his habit of getting into serious trouble. When he’s asked by a desperate mother to help find her only son, Belsey’s investigation pulls him into Amber’s hedonistic world. He discovers a realm of excess, obsession, lust and greed—precisely as he’d hoped.

But he isn’t prepared for the blood trail to lead to Amber herself.

As one sickening crime is followed by another, Belsey finds himself chasing answers as his only means of survival. It may be too late to save his reputation but he’s not ready to die just yet. Not at the hands of a celebrity. Utterly harrowing and building to an intense, fraught-laden climax, The House of Fame is Oliver Harris’ best work to date.