At the heart of Gibraltar lies the Rock.
At the heart of the Rock lies darkness.
The late-morning sun beats down on the Rock of Gibraltar as bored tourists photograph the Barbary Apes. A child's scream pierces the silence as she sees a monkey cradling a macabre trophy. A man's severed arm.
In the narrow streets of the Old Town below, lawyer Spike Sanguinetti's friend and colleague is critically injured in a mysterious hit-and-run. Spike must drop everything and return home to Gibraltar, where he is drawn into a case defending a ruthless salvage company hunting for treasure in the Straits.
As Spike battles to save his business, he realises that his investigations have triggered a terrifying sequence of events, and that everything he holds dear is under threat.

Review
Evocative, engrossing and entertaining The Times on Shadow of the Rock Shadow of the Rock, the first book by Thomas Mogford, is partly set on Gibraltar. It's exciting and assured - with a hero wonderfully called Spike Sanguinetti . Popular fiction at its best Susan Hill, Spectator, Books of the Year I loved Shadow of the Rock. Mogford's sharp prose drew me in from the first page and his intriguingly flawed hero Spike stands out in the memory Sadie Jones Very original, and brilliantly rendered . a rare and enviable talent William Boyd

About the Author
Thomas Mogford has worked as a journalist for Time Out and as a translator for the European Parliament. His first novels in the Spike Sanguinetti series, Shadow of the Rock and Sign of the Cross, were published by Bloomsbury in 2012 and 2013 respectively, to great critical acclaim. He was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award for best new crime writer of 2013. He is married and lives with his family in London. www.thomasmogford.com @ThomasMogford