Number four in David Mark’s DS McAvoy series has landed on the doormat – and it is sporting a bleakly atmospheric cover photo for the UK market. Quite what the bleached animal skull featured on the US cover is supposed to convey, we’re not really sure. Don’t find many of those on the banks of the River Humber!

Taking Pity is out on 2 July – and opens three months on from where Sorrow Bound left off. Once more, the story is set on the mean streets of Hull, and at the heart of the action is the brilliant conceived DS Aector McAvoy, a taciturn Scot whose deep-seated sense of justice and insistence at playing by the rules will be sorely tested before the 372 pages have been turned.

David Mark writes with a realism borne of his former career as a journalist, creating a series of police procedurals that have won him some jaw-dropping plaudits (The New York Times described his work as “in the honourable tradition of Joseph Wambaugh and Ed McBain” no less). They’re really pushing the boat out for this one, with a promotional video too.

You can read our reviews of The Dark Winter, Original Skin and Sorrow Bound, and we’ll have a review of this one soon. It will be out as a hardback at £18.99 and as an ebook too. You can pre-order yours here.

There’s a visual preview of the book below: