Octavo. First edition, first printing. Signed by the author on the title page. Original cloth boards with publisher's titling, in the original pictorial dust jacket.

Christopher Brookmyre's debut novel and the first appearance of investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, widely regarded as a landmark title in modern Scottish crime fiction. The book is clean and firmly bound, with bright boards and unmarked contents. The dust jacket is complete and presentable, showing only light handling consistent and a minor tear to the front sleeve but now protected in a removable archival sleeve.

Signed first editions of Brookmyre's debut are notably scarcer than signed later titles and proofs, and are particularly sought after by collectors of contemporary British crime fiction.