Between the summer of 1959 and early 1965, eight prostitutes working in West London were murdered. Some of their naked bodies were discovered along the banks of the river Thames. The others had been stored before being casually discarded amid refuse, on a rubbish tip, dumped in an alleyway or in a dead end street. The case became known as both the London Nude Murders and the Hammersmith Nude Murders due to their discoveries in close proximity to the West London suburb. At least two of the women had links to some of the biggest names and scandals of the era - including the Kray Twins, the Profumo affair and the ex-world light heavyweight boxing champion, Freddie Mills. Despite extensive and exhaustive police inquiries at the time - half a century later, the murders are still officially unsolved and the police records remain sealed for another 50 years. At the time, the police linked the eight murders to the work of one man - a man they nicknamed Jack the Stripper, possibly to pay homage to the world's most infamous unidentified murderer, Jack the Ripper, who also targeted London prostitutes eight decades earlier. DI John Chambers, recently returned from his East African odyssey, is back in London only to find out he is surplus to requirements at his old nick in Westminster. Quietly moved on to the newly formed cold case unit, Operation Yetna in West London, Chambers is given command of a small band of misfits tasked with the job of bringing closure to the unsolved murders in London over the past five decades. Facing an uphill struggle with a disparate team, things are looking far from promising and Chambers is considering quitting the force for the first time in his career. His thoughts turning ever more to the bizarre disappearance and possible murder of Detective Li, his ex-partner in Hong Kong. But what impact will the appearance of a dead body in Brentford and a mysterious message from China ultimately have on his decision? Chambers is about to face the toughest decision of his career.
About the Author: Andrew Woodward was born in London to Scottish parents. He travelled extensively before settling down to reside in Sydney, Australia for just over a decade. However, his desire to seek new challenges led him to a short sojourn in the deserts of the Middle East before finding his true calling as an author in Hong Kong. And it was in this vibrant city that features as the location for his debut novel, The Water Dragon, featuring the intrepid Detective Inspector John Chambers. Andrew released the sequel, The Fire Walker, which is set in Scotland, in mid-2012. The third installment of the DI Chambers series - The Silverbird's Sign, is set both in Hong Kong and sub-Saharan Africa (released early 2013) and is a continuation of the author's split narrative approach. The fourth novel in the Elements series, The Charred Forest Murders was released in August 2013. Andrew is currently researching material the fifth and final novel of his Elements pentalogy which is planned for release in mid-2014. His writing style in the first two novels encompassed the traditional thriller and detective mode of writing, while his third novel saw him switch to the classic whodunnit plot line. The combination of murder-mystery with a rich and evocative travel writing style help to bring the settings to the fore, making the locations an integral part of the narrative that add a depth and reality rarely found in the genre.