It is February 1976, and the naked corpse of a young rent boy is fished out of a pond on Hampstead Heath. Since the police don't seem to care, twenty-year-old Tommy Wildeblood - himself a former 'Dilly boy' prostitute - finds himself investigating. Dodging murderous Soho hoodlums and the agents of a more sinister power, Tommy uncovers another, even more shocking crime: the senior politician Jeremy Thorpe has ordered the murder of his former male lover. The trail of guilt seems to lead higher still, and a ruthless Establishment will stop at nothing to cover its tracks. In a gripping thriller whose cast of real-life characters includes Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his adviser Lady Falkender, Adam Macqueen plays 'what if' with Seventies political history - with a sting in the tail that reminds us that the truth can be just as chilling as fiction.

`A wonderfully evocative walk on the wild side of 1970s London, Beneath the Streets is darkly comic and deeply moving. A breathtaking, heartbreaking thriller' - Jake Arnott; 'Ticks all the boxes for me. Gay history. Jeremy Thorpe. And a rent boy turned detective called Tommy Wildeblood. Fantastic' - Jonathan Harvey; 'A f***ing fantastic read. A gripping what-if thriller, packed with vivid period detail and page-turning twists. To find myself actually making an appearance in the final chapter was just cream on the cake' - Tom Robinson; 'A page-turning mystery, skilfully plotted and filled with tension, Beneath The Streets lifts the lid on 1970s subculture to spine-tingling effect' - Paul Burston; `A thrilling and brilliantly imaginative novel. It takes you into the secret world of Soho in the 1970s. But then suddenly it opens another door into the hidden world of violence and corruption that still lies underneath the England we know today' - Adam Curtis; 'Stonkingly good' - Rose Collis

About the Author
Adam Macqueen's books include The Prime Minister's Ironing Board and The Lies of the Land: A Brief History of Political Dishonesty. The King of Sunlight, his biography of the soap manufacturer William Hesketh Lever, was named by The Economist as one of its books of the year. He has contributed to Private Eye since 1997, and wrote the bestselling history of the magazine which was published for its 50th anniversary in 2011. He lives on the south coast of England with his husband, painter Michael Tierney.

Reviews
'After I finished writing A Very English Scandal, I took a solemn vow - that I would rather spit-roast my own offspring than read anything else about the Jeremy Thorpe Affair. Seldom have I gone back on my word with more pleasure. As boldly conceived as it is vividly realised, Beneath the Streets is a delight' - John Preston, The Critic; 'Gripping... this very English scandal has wit and invention to spare' - The Observer; 'Adam Macqueen's excellent debut thriller [has] a thoroughly likeable hero while the plot skilfully mixes fact with fiction' - Mail on Sunday; 'What if Jeremy Thorpe had succeeded in murdering Norman Scott? That's the gripping premise behind this smart story of corruption, murder and establishment cover-up' - iPaper, 40 best books of the year



Book Information
ISBN 9781785631733
Author Adam Macqueen
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Lightning Books
Publisher Eye Books
Weight(grams) 320g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 23mm