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William Shaw

William Shaw is the author of several non-fiction books including Westsiders: Stories of the Boys in the Hood, about a year spent with the young men of South Central Los Angeles, and A Superhero For Hire, a compilation of columns in the Observer Magazine. A Song from Dead Lips is the first in a trilogy of crime fiction books set in London in 1968 1969.

Starting out as assistant editor of the post-punk magazine ZigZag, he has been a journalist for The Observer, The New York Times, Wired, Arena and The Face and was Amazon UK Music Journalist of the Year in 2003.

Genres: Mystery

New and upcoming books

July 2026

The Burning Tide
(DS Eden Driscoll, book 2)

Series

DS Breen and WPC Tozer
   1. A Song from Dead Lips (2013)
     aka She's Leaving Home
   2. A House of Knives (2014)
     aka The Kings of London
   3. A Book of Scars (2015)
     aka A Song for the Brokenhearted
   4. Sympathy for the Devil (2017)
     aka Play With Fire

DS Alexandra Cupidi
   The Birdwatcher (2016)
   1. Salt Lane (2018)
   2. Deadland (2019)
   3. Grave's End (2020)
   4. The Trawlerman (2021)
   5. The Wild Swimmers (2024)

DS Eden Driscoll
1. The Red Shore (2025)
2. The Burning Tide (2026)

Non fiction

Sorry, we're not listing non fiction by this author

Award nominations

	2022 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (shortlist) : The Trawlerman
	2022 CWA Gold Dagger (shortlist) : The Trawlerman
	2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (shortlist) : Salt Lane
	2017 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (shortlist) : The Birdwatcher
	2016 CWA Historical Dagger (shortlist) : A Book of Scars
	2015 Barry Award for Best First Novel (nominee) : A Song from Dead Lips

William Shaw recommends

The Wasp Trap (2025)
Mark Edwards
"The most gripping book I've read in ages. A posh house. A dinner party. Old friends, each with their own slant on their very very dark shared past. Mark Edwards is unbelievably skilled at coaxing you further in to the mystery with each page."

The Art of a Lie (2025)
Laura Shepherd-Robinson
"A gem of a book. Beneath the prim Georgian gentility lurks a deliciously devious world. Laura Shepherd-Robinson's latest book is her best yet. Sharply witty and cleverly plotted, it's an utterly satisfying read."

The Seventh Body (2025)
Catherine Kirwan
"Catherine Kirwan is a superb writer. The Seventh Body is a gritty mystery, delivered with crisp wit and a gut-wrenching emotional punch."

The Day of the Roaring (2025)
(Diana Walker, book 1)
Nina Bhadreshwar
"The Day of the Roaring is a brilliant multi-layered mystery that cajoles us into some very dark places, but leaves us seeing our world with very fresh eyes. Anyone who doesn't believe that crime fiction can deal with hard stuff at the same time as keeping us totally entertained needs to read this."

Dead Mile (2024)
Jo Furniss
"A smart, witty, brilliantly original read - and it's the best thriller you'll read this year."

You Can Run (2023)
Trevor Wood
"A tour de force. From behind the twitching curtains of a small divided village a force of unlikely ne'er do wells come together in this edgy, electrifying modern thriller. Once again Wood proves himself a brilliant champion of the underdog."

Lightseekers (2021)
(Philip Taiwo, book 1)
Femi Kayode
"Thrillingly good. Femi Kayode takes crime fiction— very literally— to new places. Ian Rankin once said the best way to understand a country is to read its crime fiction. Told from the perspective of a returning expatriate, Lightseekers takes us deep into the rich complexities of contemporary Nigeria."

The Art of Death (2021)
(DI Grace Archer, book 1)
David Fennell
"A tense-as-hell high-body count page turner, but a rarer thing too - one that's also full of genuine warmth and humanity."

What You Did (2019)
Claire McGowan
"Utterly compulsive. It’s the way that McGowan makes you realize that the real horror can come from the people you hold closest that makes this totally compelling."

Fade to Grey (2019)
(Gethin Grey, book 1)
John Lincoln
"I’m an instant Gethin Grey fan. He's the classic PI, brilliantly reinvented for our messy modern times."

Play Dead for Me (2018)
(Frankie Sheehan, book 1)
Olivia Kiernan
"Disorderly, dangerous and above all, driven, Frankie Sheehan is the kind of true-to-life protagonist I love."

Yesterday (2017)
(Hans Richardson, book 1)
Felicia Yap
"Never has psychological crime fiction been so original, so witty and so inventive. This is an absolute firecracker of a read. I haven't enjoyed a debut this much in ages."

Kill Me Twice (2017)
(Morgan Vine, book 2)
Simon Booker
"So tense, so witty and so hard to put down."

Brothers in Blood (2017)
(Zaq & Jags, book 1)
Amer Anwar
"This is such a thrillingly authentic slice of London life. No one's written these characters before - and done it so well."

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