Harriet Keel
Her knee is troublesome. Her instincts remain excellent. Harriet follows the person behind the evidence, even when the record insists that person cannot be there.
BOOK FOUR · A HARRIET KEEL THRILLER
The Eastern
Mirror.
A city goes dark.
The world could be next.
A private invitation. A death that refuses to make sense. Four people who know what happens when the machines start believing the wrong story.
Available now on Amazon
LONDON · BEIJING · DALIANCRIME · TECHNOLOGY · DRY HUMOUR
THE STORY
The system knows your face.
Does it know the truth?
His brother trusted the message. Now a billionaire wants to know who sent it—and why the official record says something different.
Soon after the events of Two Shadows, three ordinary knocks at Harriet Keel’s door bring an extraordinary request. A discreet Chinese billionaire believes his brother’s death was no accident. The man who can connect the evidence to Harriet’s last case is someone Mei and Jun thought they might never see again.
Before the team can leave Britain, a hidden London basement turns the invitation into a warning. Someone knows their faces. Someone wants them to stop looking.
In China, Harriet and Hamish enter a world of impressive engineering, immaculate hospitality and loyalties nobody can explain quite comfortably. A garage full of supercars does little to reassure Harriet. Hamish’s Mandarin does even less.
Then a damaged harbour record leads them to Dalian, where a small inconsistency points towards something far bigger than one death. Familiar voices, helpful screens and emergency instructions are becoming weapons. The systems people rely on may be working exactly as somebody else intended.
Hamish’s latest invention can buy them time. It cannot tell them whom to trust. As Beijing moves towards a demonstration nobody will be able to ignore, Harriet must follow the people behind the reassuring displays—and make decisions no machine can make for her.
Cinematic, humane and threaded with dry British humour, The Eastern Mirror brings Harriet, Hamish, Mei and Jun closer together while putting their oldest loyalties under pressure.
Book four in the recommended reading order. Start with Two Shadows, then explore the Angus and St Andrews prequels.
Begin with Two Shadows ↗INSIDE THE EASTERN MIRROR
A warning in the dark.
A very expensive distraction.
Two moments from the novel, illustrated in the familiar cinematic style of the series. Select an image to explore it.
01 · LONDON · CHAPTER TWO
The Fourth Door
Three visible entrances. Four maintenance contracts. Behind a painted fire exit, an abandoned exercise book waits in a room that is not quite empty.
Then the lights go out. Someone has already seen their faces.
02 · CHINA · CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A Very Expensive Shed
Several million pounds of possibilities. Harriet chooses the dark-blue Aston Martin. Hamish walks past the supercars towards the little cream Citroën.
For once, everybody understands the disagreement. Neither car can explain what is waiting in Dalian.
FAMILIAR PEOPLE · UNFAMILIAR GROUND
Trust travels.
So does the past.
The warmth of the team meets the complications of coming home—and the people who can open doors, or close them.
Hamish MacNair
A new invention, a complicated language and an old car he understands. Hamish can expose a system’s assumptions; people remain a more interesting problem.
Mei Lin
Returning to China brings relief, anger and questions about the commander she once trusted. Precision is useful. Forgiveness is harder.
Jun Wei
An old friendship, uncertain loyalties and a remarkably durable sense of humour. Jun knows when a joke helps—and when it is time to stop.
Liang Jianwen
A discreet billionaire with resources to spare and a loss money cannot repair. He wants the truth about his brother, however much it costs.
Dr Shen Rui
A security architect willing to question her own systems. Shen’s practical skill matters when trusted technology begins issuing dangerous instructions.
BY CHRIS HUGHES
One invitation.
No easy way back.
Explore the cover, buy the book on Amazon, or listen to the audiobook on Audible.
A HARRIET KEEL THRILLER
The world looks connected.
Harriet looks closer.
The next chapter for Harriet, Hamish, Mei and Jun. Technology, loyalty and the human cost of a reassuring lie.
Available now on Amazon
TRY THE FIRST BOOK
Meet Harriet.
Hear the shadows.
Start with Two Shadows. Read the opening, or hear the actual audiobook narration before you choose.
TWO SHADOWS · AUDIOBOOK
Someone is listening.
Now it’s your turn.
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Get the full audiobook ↗