I had read the mayfly by James Hazel and thought that it was so good that he would not be able to top it. How wrong I was, the ash doll gripped me from the very first page and wouldn’t let me go. Charlie Priest is a solicitor with his own demons, and he takes on a libel case that turns out to be much more convoluted. The main witness is Simon Ali who is giving evidence in the Elias verses The Real Byte Limited, he turns up dead in the back of a car belonging to Eleanor Fox. Fox is a sassy character used to getting what she wants, and she has a keen interest in Charlie’s libel trial,and always seems to be one step ahead of Charlie and his assistant Geordie Someday. The writing flows like water and the tension between the characters can be felt by the reader, I can’t wait to read his next novel. I think Eleanor Fox will turn up again at some point.