Liverpool, 2007: the year as City of Culture is fast approaching. And in the City of Culture bad things aren't allowed to happen. So when a prostitute is found beaten to death, it fails to make the news. But the story stirs something in washed-up reporter Susan Clarke. Enlisting the help of fellow journalist Rachel Jack, she sets out to find the killer, and finds also the woman she used to be along the way. Tense, pacy, and violent, with sharp dialogue, Cast-Iron Men is a well-researched press procedural novel, with two tough and vulnerable female main characters. "On the surface, the story of murder and betrayal and corruption, but its themes run much, much deeper. This is a powerful and gripping novel. I recommend this book, without reservation " MJ Hyland, award-winning author of How the Light Gets In, Carry Me Down, This is How. "The novel is a love-note, and perhaps a battle-cry, to Liverpool. Kearney treasures the detail with which he lays bare his city's streets, neatly traversing between the wealthy and the deprived, conjuring the fierce collective pride and desperation of a city in transition. A compelling debut." Sophie Scott, e-thriller.com