The Hawk Is Dead, page 40
Read on for more information on the brilliant charities mentioned in this book . . .
THE QUEEN’S READING ROOM
The Queen’s Reading Room, launched by Her Majesty Queen Camilla in 2023, is a charity championing literature in the UK and beyond.
Through groundbreaking neuroscientific research, it seeks to discover and celebrate the unique power of books to improve brain health, mental health and social connection. Its first study using brain scans and skin conductance tests found that just five minutes of reading fiction both reduces stress by 20 per cent and improves the brain’s capacity to manage stress, all while boosting concentration and focus and reducing feelings of loneliness.
The charity seeks to promote the accessibility and joy of stories and storytelling and it reaches more than 12 million people in 174 countries around the world each year with its free, educational book-based content, as well as staging major festivals and events across the UK and internationally. The charity was born from an Instagram book club launched during the 2021 lockdown.
The Queen’s Reading Room is proud to partner with a range of charities to help bring books, authors and stories to everyone. Because books make life better.
For more information, visit queensreadingroom.co.uk
@thequeensreadingroom
BOOK AID INTERNATIONAL
Book Aid International is a UK registered charity that shares the power of books and helps create a more equal world.
Access to books enriches lives. Books open doors to a lifetime of learning, light up imaginations, fire ambitions and help us see the world in new ways. Yet millions of people globally have few books or no books at all.
Book Aid International’s vision is a world in which everyone has the opportunity to read. Every year the charity provides more than a million brand-new books to thousands of communities in which people need books. It also works with its partners to create hundreds of warm and welcoming reading spaces in schools, libraries and communities.
Each book the charity sends is carefully selected in response to partner requests. All of the books provided from the UK are donated by publishers. Book Aid International also funds the purchase of thousands of locally published books every year.
In an average year, more than 21 million people have the chance to read thanks to the charity’s work.
Book Aid International receives no government grants or support and relies entirely on the generosity of book lovers like you to reach readers around the world. It costs just £2 to send the next brand-new book.
To find out more or to get involved, visit bookaid.org
Book Aid International is a registered charity in England and Wales. Charity number 313869 and company number 880754
SAFELIVES
For too many people, home isn’t a safe place: the people who are meant to love them hurt them instead. Whether it’s physical or psychological, abuse can happen to anyone, no matter where they live, how old they are or what sort of lifestyle they lead.
Thousands of survivors from all across the country have bravely shared their stories with SafeLives. Their experiences tell us everything about the warning signs and the consequences of inaction. And their insight shows what works to keep victims and their families safe.
Together with survivors, SafeLives is transforming the response to domestic abuse and abusive relationships so that those being harmed are made safer sooner while those doing the harming are held accountable.
If this has happened to you or to a friend or family member, please know that you are not alone. There is help and support for you.
If you’d like to support SafeLives, please find more information at safelives.org.uk/support-us
Domestic abuse helplines:
England and Wales 0808 2000 247
Scotland 0800 027 1234
Northern Ireland 0808 802 1414
Charity number 1106864
ST WILFRID’S HOSPICE EASTBOURNE
St Wilfrid’s Hospice provides high-quality care and support for people with life-limiting illnesses across Eastbourne, Seaford, Hailsham, Uckfield, Heathfield and all points between. Support is offered at the hospice, in patients’ own homes and in care homes across the area.
Our expert teams support the physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual and practical needs of patients and their families and carers. We provide nursing, medical care and therapies in patients’ homes, in care homes, in our Inpatient Unit and through our Living Well Hub, as well as on our telephone advice line. The hospice also provides preand post-bereavement support for the family and carers of patients.
As a registered charity, we receive only a small proportion of our running costs from the NHS. We count on the generosity of our supporters to help us with the rest, meaning that every donation or gift left in a will makes a difference to the support we can offer patients and their families.
Website: www.stwhospice.org
Email: hospice@stwhospice.org
Telephone: 01323 434200
Address: 1 Broadwater Way, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 9PZ
Charity number 283686
SOUTHERN HOSPICE GROUP
This book mentions Queen Camilla’s visit to the real Sussex hospices Martlets and Chestnut Tree House.
From fundraising and volunteering to gifts in wills, both hospices rely on the generosity of the local community to keep on caring.
Martlets and Chestnut Tree House, along with St Barnabas House adults’ hospice in Worthing, form the Southern Hospice Group, a charity providing palliative and end-of-life care on-site, in the community and in people’s homes.
Martlets provides essential services to adults affected by terminal illness in Brighton and Hove and the surrounding areas. Their expert teams offer the very best hospice care and support, helping patients and their loved ones make the most of the precious time they have together.
martlets.org.uk
Chestnut Tree House is the children’s hospice for Sussex and south-east Hampshire. Thanks to support from the local community, children and families who know they don’t have long together have the chance to live life to the fullest and say goodbye in the way that is right for them.
chestnut.org.uk
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter James is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, best known for his crime thrillers featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, who Queen Camilla recently named as her favourite fictional detective. Praised by critics and much loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters and accurate portrayals of modern-day policing, he has won more than forty awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. With a total of twenty-one Sunday Times number ones, his books have sold more than 23 million copies worldwide and have been translated into thirty-eight languages. The sixth season of the hit drama Grace, based on the Roy Grace novels, is currently filming, starring John Simm as the troubled Brighton copper. The series is available to watch on ITVX and BritBox. Seven of his novels have been adapted into hit stage productions, his most recent being Picture You Dead, and his plays have been named ‘the most successful stage franchise since Agatha Christie’.
The Detective Superintendent Roy Grace books in order:
DEAD SIMPLE
In the first Roy Grace novel, a harmless stag-do prank leads to deadly consequences.
LOOKING GOOD DEAD
It started with an act of kindness and ended in murder.
NOT DEAD ENOUGH
Can a killer be in two places at once?
Roy Grace must solve a case of stolen identity.
DEAD MAN’S FOOTSTEPS
The discovery of skeletal remains in Brighton sparks a global investigation.
DEAD TOMORROW
In an evil world, everything’s for sale.
DEAD LIKE YOU
After thirteen years, has the notorious ‘Shoe Man’ killer returned?
DEAD MAN’S GRIP
A trail of death follows a devastating traffic accident.
NOT DEAD YET
Terror on the silver screen; an obsessive stalker on the loose.
DEAD MAN’S TIME
A priceless watch is stolen and the powerful Daly family will do anything to get it back.
WANT YOU DEAD
Who knew online dating could be so deadly?
YOU ARE DEAD
Brighton falls victim to its first serial killer in eighty years.
LOVE YOU DEAD
A deadly black widow is on the hunt for her next husband.
NEED YOU DEAD
Every killer makes a mistake somewhere. You just have to find it.
DEAD IF YOU DON’T
A kidnapping triggers a parent’s worst nightmare and a race against time for Roy Grace.
DEAD AT FIRST SIGHT
Roy Grace exposes the lethal side of online identity fraud.
FIND THEM DEAD
A ruthless Brighton gangster is on trial and will do anything to walk free.
LEFT YOU DEAD
When a woman in Brighton vanishes without a trace, Roy Grace is called in to investigate.
PICTURE YOU DEAD
Not all windfalls are lucky. Some can lead to murder.
STOP THEM DEAD
A senseless murder hides a multitude of other crimes.
ONE OF US IS DEAD
Roy Grace is about to find out just how dangerous a dead man can be.
THE HAWK IS DEAD
Roy Grace never dreamed a murder investigation would take him deep into Buckingham Palace.
Also by Peter James
DEAD LETTER DROP ATOM BOMB ANGEL
BILLIONAIRE POSSESSION DREAMER
SWEET HEART TWILIGHT PROPHECY
HOST ALCHEMIST THE TRUTH
DENIAL FAITH PERFECT PEOPLE
THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL ABSOLUTE PROOF
THE SECRET OF COLD HILL I FOLLOW YOU
THEY THOUGHT I WAS DEAD: SANDY’S STORY
Short Story Collection
A TWIST OF THE KNIFE
Children’s Novel
GETTING WIRED!
Novellas
THE PERFECT MURDER
WISH YOU WERE DEAD (A Roy Grace Quick Read)
Non-Fiction
DEATH COMES KNOCKING: POLICING ROY GRACE’S BRIGHTON (with Graham Bartlett)
BABES IN THE WOOD (with Graham Bartlett)
First published 2025 by Macmillan
This electronic edition first published 2025 by Macmillan
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ISBN 978-1-5290-9009-3
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Peter James, The Hawk Is Dead












