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. This course of action 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 novel from a powerful voice in crime fiction.

"An ambitious, tautly plotted thriller that offers a stark antidote to P.D. James' cozy world of middle-class murder. A huge talent."- Time Out "Martyn Waites' lean, exhilarating prose is from the heart and from the guts, and that's exactly where it hits you."-Mark Billingham "Waites stands out in the crowded field of young British noir writers with his bruised characters, raw-edged dialogue, and extraordinary night vision."-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review "London's dark heart has seldom been exposed with such surgical precision. Brutal, mesmerizing stuff."-Ian Rankin "A powerful writer who creates memorable characters who live in the memory as well as on the page. The skillful dialogue reminds me of Ken Bruen."-Otto Penzler, The New York Sun "A sometimes brutal, sometimes poetic journey through the dark heart of modern London, and confirms Waites as one of the brightest stars in British crime writing."-John Connolly In this stunning sequel to Mary's Prayer, we find journalist Stephen Larkin back in his native Newcastle, whose dark underbelly is fertile territory for men who live beyond the reaches of morality. To fill the empty space in his life, Larkin jumps at the chance to track down a child abuser with friends in high places. He thinks he's experienced all there is to know about the evil that men do. But nothing has prepared Larkin for the self-styled Minister for Youth . . . Martyn Waites, the author of six critically acclaimed crime novels, is emerging as one of the leading writers of British noir fiction. Little Triggers is the second novel in his Stephen Larkin trilogy. Waites lives in London.