The Darkest Tide
On sale
19th November 2026
Price: £10.99
What happens when you can no longer keep a secret?
When Arthur Cotton sees a body washed up on the beach, difficult memories come flooding back. He kept the books for the Brighton mob back in the day and got out on friendly terms. But retirement came with conditions – mainly to keep his mouth shut. Fifty years on, it’s trickier. Dementia is taking hold and he’s getting leaky. His former bosses are worried. Arthur didn’t just keep their accounts, he also kept their secrets. Now there’s going to be a reckoning.
It’s up to Arthur’s daughter, Susan, a carer for the elderly, to find out what her father knows. What he’s been saying and to whom. There are dangerous people around, and they’re beginning to lose their patience. She’ll have to turn detective to encounter a Brighton she barely knew existed, and to turn up parts of her father’s past that are just as dark.
Peter Hanington delves into Brighton’s shadowy corners in this gripping new series starring the brilliant Susan Cotton.
When Arthur Cotton sees a body washed up on the beach, difficult memories come flooding back. He kept the books for the Brighton mob back in the day and got out on friendly terms. But retirement came with conditions – mainly to keep his mouth shut. Fifty years on, it’s trickier. Dementia is taking hold and he’s getting leaky. His former bosses are worried. Arthur didn’t just keep their accounts, he also kept their secrets. Now there’s going to be a reckoning.
It’s up to Arthur’s daughter, Susan, a carer for the elderly, to find out what her father knows. What he’s been saying and to whom. There are dangerous people around, and they’re beginning to lose their patience. She’ll have to turn detective to encounter a Brighton she barely knew existed, and to turn up parts of her father’s past that are just as dark.
Peter Hanington delves into Brighton’s shadowy corners in this gripping new series starring the brilliant Susan Cotton.
Reviews
Praise for Peter Hanington--
Hanington has true talent
Peter Hanington has a journalist's nose for stories
This adrenaline-laced adventure packs a mighty punch.
Smart and topical.
Thoughtful, atmospheric, and grippingly plotted.
A compelling, fast-paced thriller.
A race against time, in every sense. A beautifully written crime thriller set against an atmospheric Brighton backdrop
A compelling mystery with a breathtaking twist - an irresistible slice of Brighton noir.
As with all the best crime writers, Peter Hanington shines a light into the darkest corners of society, throwing into relief both the shadow and the light. This is crime fiction at its best: the evocative setting, page-turning pace and cleverly woven plot. But what stands out for me here are the characters who, even at their most brutal and flawed, are always human, and always utterly believable
Full of tension and atmosphere, The Darkest Tide is novel of guilt and redemption. Hanington's often visceral writing is superb, and his plotting a masterclass
The Darkest Tide, switchbacking between 1969 and 2019, is a deeply atmospheric tale full of "violence and fear and death." Peter Hanington has an eye for the bizarre: the split pupil in a thug's right eye, a one-winged seagull on a lead. Graham Green, Elly Griffiths, Lynne Truss and Peter James have all raised "London's toyshop" - Brighton - in search of wicked tricks and games. He is the equal of them all. Let's call them Brighton peers.
Hanington's vivid depiction of Brighton - from 1960s ganglands to modern streets - is paired with sharp characterisation and suspenseful plotting to create an exploration of memory, regret and the heavy cost of buried truths
