Good Red Herring by Susan Maxwell

An intriguing murder mystery set in an imaginary world, peopled by vampires, dimorphs, luchrupans and the odd - very odd - Salmon Farsade, an orphan with the ability to read auras. Salmon becomes apprenticed to Muinbeo's most famous nocturnal detective, the long-lived and sharp-toothed Inspector McCabe, and together they try to sniff out who killed Fen Maguire - and why.

'Hard silver light caught in her dark hair, the moon shadows giving her pointed face a romance it lacked in life. He wedged his nose against the clenched hand under the bent arm, against the blood-soaked earth where her life had finally trickled away. The ghost of wind, which only he could feel, stirred, and he raised his head. Cullen had learned the odour of her dead body, and turned to inhale the story of her death.'

Susan Maxwell studied English and History in University College Galway before training as an archivist in Dublin. She currently works with an international organisation in The Hague, where she is also undertaking a PhD. She has had short stories and poetry published in The Stinging Fly and The Three Spires. The wonderful Good Red Herring, a novel for teenagers, is her first novel.