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  • Published: 6 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529948264
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 192

The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor




A rollicking Holmesian detective thriller and the much-anticipated prequel to revered graphic novelist Bryan Talbot's Grandville series

With top-hat and cane in hand, Scotland Yard's DI Stamford Hawksmoor shadows the murky backstreets of London on the hunt for a sadistic serial killer.

In the dying days of the French occupation of Britain, through gaslit, cobbled streets and squalid alleyways, stalks the great eagle Detective Stamford Hawksmoor in search of the homicidal manic whose killing spree claims dozens of seemingly unconnected victims, from random murders to targeted political assassinations.

The deeper he delves, the more he puts himself in mortal danger, pitting himself against unknown antagonists whilst under the scrutiny of the feared anti-terrorist squad, and the more he is forced to resort to working outside the law.

A prequel to Talbot's pioneering Grandville series, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor is also an intriguing, labyrinthine stand-alone mystery graphic novel set in a world of hansom cabs and pea-souper fogs, where explosive violence can erupt at any second - and does!

  • Published: 6 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529948264
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 192

About the author

Bryan Talbot

Bryan Talbot was born in 1952. He has worked on underground comics, science fiction and superhero stories such as Judge Dredd and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. His books include Alice in Sunderland, Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes (with Mary Talbot), the first graphic novel to win the Costa biography award, and the Grandville series.

Also by Bryan Talbot

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Praise for The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor

Talbot builds his parallel world with terrific audacity and dexterity. What his introduction calls the "historically divergent realm" of Grandville has both the internal logic and the imaginative reach of the boldest fantasy landscapes... [Talbot is a] sophisticated and encyclopaedic wit. Counterfactual history has seldom painted as rich an alternative past as Talbot’s — and never a wittier one.

Boyd Tonkin, UnHerd

The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor works as a fantastic standalone action-mystery, that's not a direct pastiche of Holmes (despite the protagonist's initials), but is steeped in Holmesian lore, and is accessible even to people who don't read many comics... Talbot is a master of the medium... [He has] created an intricate work that will richly reward any reader.

Sherlock Holmes Journal

A gripping mystery, perfect for both Grandville fans and newcomers

Rich Johnston, Bleeding Cool

A magnificent alternative investigative thriller... a delight from start to finish... Talbot is a master storyteller and this shines throughout, with a bucketful of rich detail, social commentary, and plot complexity to complete your immersion... You will be consumed by a world of intrigue, murder, monocles and beaks. I strongly suggest one takes one’s cane and ferrule in hand, stride outbound to your local supplier of vellum bound smutter and purchase The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor quickstep.

Graham Baines, DownTheTubes

We won’t say anything more but Talbot has a wicked with spinning a page turning narrative that also manages to satirise the world in which we find ourselves. [It's] smart and deep and fun

Bookmunch
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