Private investigator Catherine Berlin is out of work. Broke and with a drug habit that's only just under control, she can't resist taking up a mysterious job offered by a friend, even if it is in Moscow in the depths of December.
However, what seemed like a straightforward investigation of a Russian businessman soon reveals itself to be much darker and deadlier. Berlin realises she must trust no one if she is to escape the shadowy enemies pursuing her, enemies who are pulling on the strings of a vast and toxic web...
Extract
The hands were warm. Soft fingers, but flesh inflected with iron. Squeezing. The small hyoid bone cracked and the tongue, to which it was connected, lolled and protruded from the mouth.
Vertebrae fragmented: one, two, three, until finally the hands relaxed and the limp body slid from their embrace.
Blood turned to ice and sealed the nostrils.
The soft crackle of cellophane was followed by greedy sucking; a fruity scent drifted on a sigh of regret.
The sweet wrapper lay where it had been dropped.
Snow gleamed blue in the moonlight.
'Let’s go home,' came the whisper.
Amanda Gillies, Euro Crime
"If you like a good book that has a gutsy woman as the main character, as well as a nail-biter of a plot, then you are going to love A MORBID HABIT. "
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Jeff Popple, Sydney Morning Herald
"This is a convincing and gripping crime thriller that easily gathers the reader up in its thrall. Hauxwell has woven an intricate web of conspiracy and deception, and fuels it with a steady stream of action and suspense.
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Angela Savage, Wordpress
"...the third novel in the series and...her best yet. Set mostly in Russia, A Morbid Habit is as bleak and dark as a Moscow winter. The plot is satisfyingly complex, the suspense razor sharp, and the characters intriguing, if rarely likeable."
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Christine Wallace, Sydney Morning Herald
"As well as being smart, sharp and, in the driest of possible ways, at times rather funny, A Morbid Habit is a soliloquy for the lost dream of socialism in Russia...Hauxwell is a brainy, knowledgeable and worldly writer who provides a cracking read...
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