Lost Daughter

For fans of Elementary, Ripper Street and Sherlock Holmes - meet Jean Brash, a feisty, self-made woman turned sleuth in murky Victorian Edinburgh where crime and high society meet.Jean Brash is beautiful, intelligent and in her prime. Owner of The Just Land, the best and most successful brothel in Victorian Edinburgh, she's seen the highs and lows of society and been on both sides of the law, much to the frustration of her sparring partner, Inspector James McLevy. And Jean has a mind to do some sleuthing of her own ...It's Spring and Jean Brash is raring to go. A theatre company arrives in Leith to perform King Lear. A ruthless robbery is planned, a gruesome murder committed, both of which set off unwanted events and unearth long buried connections from Jean's past.Even more lethally, her own lost family life explodes in the present, as a wild young actress who trails violence and death behind her, involves Jean in a dangerous complex game that threatens to destroy the very root of her identity and everything Jean has fought to achieve. Jean Brash is my favourite character and David Ashton's writing is as delicious, elegant and compelling as she is' Siobhan Redmond (Jean Brash in BBC Radio 4's McLevy series)

PRAISE FOR THE INSPECTOR McLEVY AND JEAN BRASH SERIESAshton is an old hand at milking the Old Town, New Town and Leith for their maximum atmosphere, suspense and air of criminality. That, combined with the intriguing premise of a crime-solving brotel-keeper, makes Mistress of the Just Land a most diverting page turner, Here is Jean Brash centre stage in all her splendour - clever, cheeky, generous, alluring, hard-headed, yet prone to the occasional burst of crazy romanticism, an old friend who is full of surprises. I find her as irresistible as McLevy does: she's my favourite character and David Ashton's writing is as delicious, elegant and compelling as she is., An intriguing Victorian story... elegant and convincing, McLevy is one of the greatest psychological creations and Ashton the direct heir to Robert Louis Stevenson, Mclevy is a sort of Victorian Morse with a heart, prowling the mean wynds and tenements of the endlessly fascinating city. David Ashton impeccably evokes Edinburgh so vividly that you feel the cold in your bones and the menace of the Old Town's steep cobbles and dark corners

DAVID ASHTON was born in Greenock in 1941. He studied at Central Drama School, London, from 1964 to 1967, and most recently appeared in The Last King of Scotland and The Etruscan Smile. David started writing in 1984 and he has seen many of his plays and TV adaptations broadcast - he wrote early episodes of EastEnders and Casualty, and twelve McLevy series for BBC Radio 4.inspectormclevy.com