Fox by Anthony Gardner

A virulent disease carried by foxes is spreading across Europe. In London an urgent cull is underway, spearheaded by Frank Smith, the young master of the Hyde Park Hunt. But for Britain's paranoid Prime Minister, fox flu is a chance to foist the ultimate in surveillance technology on an unsuspecting population: the Mulberry Tree system, secretly bought from the Chinese.

When biochemist Christophe Hardy discovers the conspiracy, he finds himself caught up in a chase which starts in Beijing and ends in Northumbria involving animal rights activists, a beautiful female missionary, high-society Chinese assassins, and the world most innovative catering venture, the Pu Dong Pudding Company.

Anthony Gardner is an Irish author and journalist based in London. He edits the Royal Society of Literature's magazine RSL and has written for a wide variety of British, Irish and American magazines and newspapers, including the Sunday Times Magazine, Intelligent Life and Slightly Foxed. He was previously deputy editor of Harpers and Queen.