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The Shadow Step

The remarkable Detective Miller is back with a riveting new mystery

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The Shadow Step

By: Mark Billingham
Narrated by: David Threlfall
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The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists.

'I'm excited to have found a new favourite detective' CLAIRE DOUGLAS

'Edge-of-your-seat tension, wit and heart - fantastic!' LISA JEWELL

'Funny, moving, and full of surprises. An absolute treat' MICK HERRON

'Billingham at his best' The Times

★ 'Combining humor, pathos, and genuine surprise, it's another home run from Billingham.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW

'The Shadow Step is another Billingham corker' Express

It's Detective Miller's deadliest dance...

The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow')

Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with one another. It does not normally end with someone stone-dead in a lake.

DS Declan Miller is a magnet for strange cases, but how can he catch a killer when the man confessing to the crime is clearly innocent? Things rapidly escalate when the murder that isn't really a murder at all attracts the unwanted attention of a drugs Queenpin, a deranged ex-squaddie and a lovesick gangland enforcer. Then a student is kidnapped...

Throw in a wobbly dog, a pair of ceramic leopards and the distracting smell from a local biscuit factory, and - if he wants to save a young man's life - Miller has little choice but to waltz all the way into the shadows.©2026 Mark Billingham Ltd (P)2026 Little, Brown Book Group Limited Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedurals Thriller & Suspense Crime Exciting Funny Witty Feel-Good Murder Detective
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Critic reviews

★ Combining humor, pathos, and genuine surprise, it's another home run from Billingham.
Billingham at his best (Mark Sanderson)
Miller is a brilliant creation and The Shadow Step is another Billingham corker (Matt Nixson)
All stars
Most relevant
So pleased I gave DS Miller a go, brilliantly narrated & written! Made me laugh out loud often and Im going to miss all the characters… please write book 4 quickly 🙏🏻

Love it

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I love this series and this one did not disappoint the characters are so well rounded and growing each outing

Great addition to the series

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I had The Shadow Step on pre order as I love this Mark Billingham series so much. As a Blackpudlian now living in London I can see all the places and characters mentioned. The narration by David Threlfall is superb. He has consistent voices for each character across the 3 books. Highly highly recommended and can't wait for the next one.

Love this series

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The story kicks off with a brilliant hook: a ballroom dancing “shadow step” is meant to be the ultimate picture of synchronised elegance, but it certainly doesn’t normally end with a body stone-cold dead in a lake.

DS Declan Miller is immediately pulled into a bizarre web when a clearly innocent man steps forward to confess to the crime. As if dealing with a false confession isn’t confusing enough, the investigation quickly spirals into chaos, attracting the attention of a drug queenpin, a deranged ex-squaddie, and a lovesick gangland enforcer. Throw in a kidnapping, a wobbly miniature sausage dog named Ruby, and the distracting smell from a local biscuit factory, and you’ve got an incredibly fast-paced, entertaining mystery.

What truly makes this book shine is Declan Miller himself. He is a wonderfully eccentric and acerbic character whose idiosyncrasies constantly mask deep emotional pain. He’s a ballroom-dancing, pet-rat-owning detective with very little regard for protocol, but he has an absolutely golden heart. Billingham’s writing is sharp as a tack. He perfectly balances the high-stakes tension of the criminal underworld with razor-sharp comedic asides.

While it’s not a traditional whodunnit, the narrative is a deeply engaging “how-in-the-heck did they think they’d get away with it?” With cleverly woven subplots involving his former partner and his stepdaughter, it continues building wonderfully on the overarching series arc.

Quirky, tense, and deliciously sarcastic, it is an absolute joy to read. Fans of character-driven police procedurals will absolutely devour this.

Highly recommended!
4.5/5

DS Declan Miller at his sarcastic best.

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Another fabulous DS Miller tale which made me laugh out loud. Just love David Threlfall’s narration. Going back to listen to Books 1 and 2 again straight away. Book 4 soon please……

Didn’t want it to end.

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