A war widow is found savagely murdered, her face burnt off in the bedroom of her middle-class home, and a cryptic note left at the scene. Demons Walk Among Us returns us to the world of military policeman Thomas Oscendale, now on leave in a South Wales sea port, still tormented by the horrors of the Western Front when he is asked to help the local police in their investigation, and foil the killer before he strikes again.
Like The Dead of Mametz before it, Demons Walk Among Us is a striking blend of crime fiction and World War I history. As well as the deadly chase, Oscendale must battle his own demons, and the devastating effects of war on the human spirit.
Jonathan Hicks was born in Barry, South Wales in 1957. As a military historian, his work has been published in magazines like The Great War, Britain at War, Stand To and Soldiers of the Queen; he gives twice-monthly lectures on the subject across South Wales. His other books include Barry and the Great War (2007) and Strange Hells, the latter inspired by his great-uncle’s service at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Jonathan is a member of the Crime Writers Association; The Dead of Mametz, a crime novel set among the Welsh Division at the Battle of Mametz Wood in World War I, was published by Y Lolfa in 2011. He is a headteacher in Penarth, and lives in Barry.