You know how we love to mix genres here at Black Gate. A Lovely Way to Burn, on sale in trade paperback next week from Quercus Books, looks like a fine example of one of my favorite modern concoctions: the apocalyptic mystery. As hospitals begin to fill with the dead and dying, Stevie Flint is convinced the sudden death of her boyfriend, Dr. Simon Sharkey, was not from natural causes. As the exits from London become choked with people fleeing a deadly new plague, Stevie’s search for answers take her in the opposite direction, into the very heart of the dying city.

Louise Welsh is also the author of The Bullet Trick, The Girl on the Stairs, and The Cutting Room. A Lovely Way to Burn is the opening novel in her Plague Tales trilogy. The second volume, Death is a Welcome Guest, arrives on May 3, and the third and final nstallment, No Dominion, will be published in January of next year.

Like this new genre of apocalyptic mysteries? You might also want to check out Lev AC Rosen’s Depth and Ben H. Winters’ The Last Policeman.

A Lovely Way to Burn will be published by Quercus on April 5, 2016. It is 318 pages, priced at $14.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by More Visual Limited.