It's 1956 as the 4th Inspector Stratton mystery opens. The world is in turmoil--the Bikini Atoll, the Suez Crisis, the Hungarian Uprising--these are just some of the events Inspector Ted Stratton can't help but think about as he makes his way through a murder investigation. The murder victim is a young man in London whose bookshelves are filled with literature on spirituality and esoteric religions, and who had just recently left the Foundation for Spiritual Understanding, a New Age cult based in Suffolk. Traveling to Suffolk to investigate, Inspector Stratton encounters a community of fervent believers led by an enigmatic, charismatic leader, and a femme fatale with a shady past. As well as a twisty murder mystery, A Willing Victim is a portrait of England in the mid-fifties and a meditation on the dangerous power of faith.

Praise for the Inspector Stratton series

"Laura Wilson is an exceptional talent . . . A terrific police procedural, a mesmerizing historical novel--few writers working today can deliver this kind one-two punch." --Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author

"Outstanding . . . Wilson convincingly evokes what it was like to sleep in a bomb shelter or stumble through shattered London streets in the dark. The characters are convincing, too." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Wilson is as adroit at the straightforward mechanics of the crime mystery as she is at evocative prose shot through with a keen sense of the past." --Independent