The cover for the next instalment of Dr (now Major) Watson’s continuing adventures as a medic in WW1 is now out. There isn’t, as you can see, the familiar thriller/mystery trope of a solitary figure walking away from the viewer. There’s a pair of men. And they are running – apparently into the sea. Which does reflect one episode in the novel, when Watson has to take ‘the most lethal road in England.’

Set mostly in Suffolk and Essex but with a return to the Western Front for the finale, it concerns Watson being blackmailed into investigating why Britain’s new ‘wonder’ weapon has killed seven men and driven an eighth insane. It is out in January from Simon & Schuster.