Ink

by John Preston

It is 1989 and Fleet Street is in crisis. So too is Hugh Byrne, a journalist on one of its few remaining papers. Suffering acute writer's block, he is sent to cover the story of an unidentified drowned man before being ignominiously banished to the bowels of the building to update the Queen Mother's obituary. As the newspaper prepares for its move to another glass palace along the river, Hugh is drawn into uncovering the identity of the drowned man and begins to wonder, is it possible for someone to die twice?

Genres: Fiction

379 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2000

About the author

John Preston is the arts editor and television critic of the Sunday Telegraph. He is the author of three highly acclaimed novels, including Kings of the Roundhouse (2005), and a travel book, Touching the Moon. He lives in London.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Anne Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow-burning mystery with a wonderfully quirky 'hero', Hugh, this was a book to savour. Yes, some of the descriptions might have been a tad too long for my taste, but I can't fault the scene setting and the way people really are at work. The subtle romance is superbly done and the ending is perfect. Another classic from John Preston.

[Jonathan Norton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasantly amusing little mystery story, set in the last days of old Fleet Street.