S.W. Kane Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Lew Kirby Books

S. W. Kane
S.W. Kane has a degree in History of Design and has worked at the Royal Institute of British Architects. This is before she took on a series of unrelated jobs in the music industry and in radio and does freelance public relations. She has an MA in Creative (Crime) Writing from City University.

From an early age, she began reading crime fiction and developed an obsession with crime that was set in cold places. Still to this day, she enjoys cracking open a crime novel and reading it from front to back.

One chance encounter with a derelict fort located in rural Pembrokeshire led to her fascination with urban exploration, which in turn became the inspiration for her crime novels.

“The Bone Jar” was listed as one of Crime Monthly’s Top 5 Heart Stoppers, and they also gave the novel a positive review. It also hit number one on Amazon’s Best Sellers list for Psychological Thrillers.

Kane has said that the inspiration for Blackwater, the abandoned asylum in “The Bone Jar”, was Cane Hill Asylum. It has since been demolished.

Kane has stated that she went over the moon upon getting her first book deal, and it was a dream come true when she got her deal. She was quickly excited about working Thomas & Mercer and finally allowing her characters out into the wild. It is the first of a three novel deal with the publisher.

Kane also loves listening to soundtracks from obscure movies, and some of her favorites are those done by composer Ennio Morricone.

Her favorite Christmas movie is the original “Black Christmas”, released in 1974. Another favorite movie is “The Bird with Crystal Plumage, which was released in 1970. Kane also enjoys watching “Deep Red”, another of Dario Argento’s films.

S. W. Kane is the pseudonym used by Sian Williams. She lives with her French bulldog, named Pancho Villa, in London, England. Kane is represented by Jane Gregory, from David Higham Associates, who handled World English rights for the novel.

Her debut novel, called “The Bone Jar”, was released in the year 2020, which is the first novel in her “Detective Lew Kirby” series of novels. The audio book was read by Matthew Lloyd Davies. Her work is from the mystery, suspense, and thriller genres, and was published by Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon. The novel has been described as ‘urbex noir’.

The novel was listed by Amazon as part of their “First Read” titles, allowing Prime members a first glimpse at the up-and-coming releases in June of 2020.

“The Bone Jar” is the first novel in the “Detective Lew Kirby” series and was released in the year 2020. One abandoned asylum. Two murders. Is a mysterious former patient going to help untangle this dark truth?

London is beautiful and icy in the coldest winter since the year 1963. The body of one elderly woman has been discovered in the depths of one derelict asylum on the south bank of the Thames, which is set to be demolished so that a brand new development can be built. The deceased is rapidly identified as a former nurse with quite a long list of enemies. While Detective Lew Kirby and his partner start their investigation, another corpse is found in the river close by. How are these two murders linked to each other?

It doesn’t take too long before the secrets of the Blackwater Asylum start revealing themselves. There are rumors about unspeakable psychological experimentation, some underground bunkers and secret rooms, and the dark force haunting these ruins, trying to pull back in everybody that try to escape.

Connie Darke, an urban explorer and archivist, whose sister died in a freak accident at the asylum and is worried about the disappearance of her friend Ed Blake, is determined to aid Lew in helping exposing the grisly past of the asylum. The two cases both entwine and spiral in rather unexpected ways. At the same time, he finds a devastating family secret that threatens to turn his life upside down. He also find other horrifying and dark secrets that stretch just as deep and as far as the tunnels underneath the hospital.

While Lew’s world crumbles all around him, he has to put the pieces of the puzzle together in order to keep the killer from striking once more. Only one eccentric former patient actually knows the whole truth, but is he going to reveal it to Lew before it is too late?

The pacing and plotting on the mystery’s unraveling appears to be perfect. This is a complex and chilling piece of work from a debut author. The novel is both atmospheric, eerie, and chilly, with an unpredictable nature, an excellent descriptive sense of place, and some engaging characters. Some readers ripped right through the novel in a single sitting, because the suspense is that strong. This is a novel sure to delight readers that are on the look-out for one bold new voice in this genre.

Connie and Kirby are fantastic characters, and quite the clever plot, which keeps you guessing the entire way through. Kane does a great job balancing thee characters and developing her story with well-paced scenes filled with either suspense or action.

Readers liked getting to know Raymond, Connie, and Lew, and felt they are such brilliant characters and it was great seeing how they each had their own part to play in the investigation. You get their daily lives, elements from their pasts, and their inner thoughts. Lew is particularly a good detective, one that readers look forward to reading more about in future books.

Readers loved the dark and gritty setting, and the descriptions of the property in the novel are vividly stark. Fans of the novel liked how the novel ends without the case being closed, and sets up for more cases with Lew. Making things more chilling in the novel are the fact based elements in the novel, like the sleep room and bone jar. These are just a couple of the horrors that constituted mental health during the sixties and seventies.

One Response to “S.W. Kane”

1. Sarah Wiley: 2 years ago

   I am a huge fan and hope to read all her books as soon as published! I can only find her first book on Amazon, which I have read. I hope to be notified when the next book becomes available.
   Thank you,
   SW

   Reply