?A crime debut that evokes modern Mongolia with vividness and flair?a robust and entertaining first novel.?( The Age) As winter falls upon the streets of Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, a serial killer is just getting warmed up. When the mutilated body of a fourth victim is found in one of the city?s most expensive hotels, Nergui, the former head of the Serious Crimes squad, is no closer to catching the killer and will accept any help he can get. Drew McLeish, a senior British CID officer and no stranger to the savage side of human nature, is sent out to lend his expertise to the investigation. From the abandoned factories of the city?s decaying suburbs to the icy expanse of the barren steppes, Nergui and McLeish follow a trail of the dead.

A high-profile criminal prosecution collapses and the body of a woman is discovered on the Mongolian steppes. Inspector Nergui is assigned to conduct an internal enquiry into the failed prosecution, while Doripalam has to deal with both the murder investigation and suspected corruption.

The Outcast As Mongolia bakes in the sweltering summer heat, the country prepares to celebrate the anniversary of Genghis Khan's rise to power. But the dramatic shooting of a suicide bomber in Suukbataar Square and the discovery of a body recreating a macabre historical scene jar events violently back to the present. Struggling with the investigation and his personal life, Doripalam turns to Nergui, his one-time mentor and now a powerful figure in the Ministry of Security - but Nergui appears as baffled as he is. As the heat intensifies, Nergui and Doripalam follow the trail to Genghis Khan's birthplace. Beneath the beating sun, out in the vastness of the steppes, a chilling figure emerges - a figure from Nergui's past, an outcast, who has returned to exact revenge, both on Nergui himself and on the nation that rejected him. 'Nergui is a splendid creation - not since Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renkin has such an interestingly different detective come along.' Jo'Burg Review. 'Walters is a talent indeed - the pages just fly by.' Eurocrime