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Harry Devlin #7
First Cut Is the Deepest
Harry Devlin is playing a dangerous game when he gets involved with the wife of Liverpool's most ruthless villain. But he has another reason to look over his shoulder after two lawyers are brutally killed and Harry discovers he is being stalked by a stranger with a secret obsession.
- GenresMystery
356 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
13 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Martin Edwards
359 books813 followersMartin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as ‘a true master of British crime writing.’ He has published twenty-three novels, which include the eight Lake District Mysteries, one of which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated Gallows Court and Blackstone Fell, while Gallows Court and Sepulchre Street were shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel of the year. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and has also been nominated three times for Gold Daggers. In addition to the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) he has received four other lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, a former Chair of the CWA, and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 18, 2013
I am beginning to become annoyed with authors that never allow their main characters to be happy.
January 1, 2026
For me the best and longest Harry Devlin book in this series
I was hooked from page one until the very end,as I read this book over Christmas / New Year 2025/26 and with so much to take in with all the storylines going on at once and a lot of them intertwined with each other,it was an easy read as I’ve said before Martin Edwards author never makes the book a hard read.
If you know Liverpool or its history / the city it’s self, if not then google 1 a map of Liverpool 2 history of underground tunnels (wait until you get to this part of the story before looking up) 3 just go with it.
Of all the books that I’ve read from this author the older the book the better he writes,as I now go to the next and last in the series of Harry Devlin series “Waterloo Sunset” with the story line ‘No one expects to read their own obituary’ I can’t wait to start.
Enjoy
I was hooked from page one until the very end,as I read this book over Christmas / New Year 2025/26 and with so much to take in with all the storylines going on at once and a lot of them intertwined with each other,it was an easy read as I’ve said before Martin Edwards author never makes the book a hard read.
If you know Liverpool or its history / the city it’s self, if not then google 1 a map of Liverpool 2 history of underground tunnels (wait until you get to this part of the story before looking up) 3 just go with it.
Of all the books that I’ve read from this author the older the book the better he writes,as I now go to the next and last in the series of Harry Devlin series “Waterloo Sunset” with the story line ‘No one expects to read their own obituary’ I can’t wait to start.
Enjoy
Read
November 15, 2021Good holds interest. 7th in the Harry Devlin series
June 1, 2013
The First Cut is the Deepest is the seventh in Edwards' Harry Devlin series, and though it does contain some spoilers for earlier books in the series, there is nothing that will confuse you about its storyline. Devlin has gotten in up to his neck in a compulsive affair with a woman who happens to be married to a big time criminal. Despite his very reasonable fear of Casper May, he still finds himself going out on a stormy night for a rendezvous with Casper's wife Juliet at a cottage her secretary is graciously letting them use.
Yes, it's a bad idea. A couple of catastrophes happen immediately, one of which is murder. I'll leave the subsequent plot developments for you to discover yourself.
The whodunit aspect of the book was sufficiently complex to keep me guessing--and I made quite a few wrong guesses, which is always good. What I particularly enjoyed about the novel, though, was Edwards' use of his own background (and I believe, actually, foreground) as a solicitor to create an interesting milieu. Devlin has few illusions about the law, and those few he may still cherish are rapidly punctured by one of the various other lawyers who populate this book. He also has few illusions about himself-- he's self-deprecating about his lawyerly skills, and puts down his penchant for crime-solving to being a bit of a nosey parker.
My full blog review is here.
Yes, it's a bad idea. A couple of catastrophes happen immediately, one of which is murder. I'll leave the subsequent plot developments for you to discover yourself.
The whodunit aspect of the book was sufficiently complex to keep me guessing--and I made quite a few wrong guesses, which is always good. What I particularly enjoyed about the novel, though, was Edwards' use of his own background (and I believe, actually, foreground) as a solicitor to create an interesting milieu. Devlin has few illusions about the law, and those few he may still cherish are rapidly punctured by one of the various other lawyers who populate this book. He also has few illusions about himself-- he's self-deprecating about his lawyerly skills, and puts down his penchant for crime-solving to being a bit of a nosey parker.
My full blog review is here.
October 18, 2015
Another fine mystery from Martin Edwards for Harry Devlin to solve. Full review at classicmystery.wordpress.com
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews