Sober and disillusioned with London, tabloid journalist Stephen Larkin reluctantly accepts an assignment to cover a gangland funeral back home in Newcastle. Several years earlier he had left sick and disgusted, vowing never to return, but the pull of the city, and the promise of a juicy story, finally persuades him to return. While there, Larkin's old flame Charlotte asks him to check out the alleged suicide of her friend Mary - a course of action that will leave Larkin bruised, battered and with some painful memories of the city he was trying to forget.

Dark, compelling and relentless, Mary's Prayer is a razor-edged crime debut from a powerful new voice in crime fiction.

'Martyn Waites is one of the brightest stars in the British crime writing firmament' John Connolly
'Waites is shaping up as a compelling and confrontational challenger to the Brit Noir throne... bearing all the hallmarks of a master in the making' Bizarre
'Waites stands out in the crowded field of young British noir writers' New York Times Book Review
'An assured, powerful debut' Andrew Vachss
'Disturbing ... the psychological insights are carefully wrought and thoroughly convincing.' Booklist