Published in paperback 10th October 2025 by Three Daggers.
Coming in ebook 24th October 2025.
From the cover of the book:
A gripping noir thriller that exposes the dark heart of a nation in turmoil.Journalist Martin Gillie has vanished, and his wife wants him found. It seems like a straightforward case for newly arrived Ash Carter. But in post-war Philippines, nothing is ever straightforward.
Carter follows a trail that leads from the smoky boxing rings of Manila to the rebel-haunted provinces. And as Carter digs, with each uncovered clue, the stakes rise higher. The police can't be trusted. The military has its own agenda.
Carter begins to wonder: Is Martin Gillie hiding from something—or someone? And if Carter finds him, will either of them live to tell the story?
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Forced to flee Singapore for his own safety, after a betrayal he did not see coming, Private investigator Ash Carter is hoping for a new start in Hong Kong. But on an eventful layover in the Philippines, he bumps into an old compatriot from his military investigator days, Bill Wolfe, and decides to change his plans. Wolfe, now running a bar, is in a bad way after becoming involved with an investigation that went tragically awry. Carter is hopeful that he can help Wolfe find his way back to a steady path, if he can get him to open up about the events that haunt him.
Meanwhile, the opportunity to reprise his own role as a PI comes Carter's way when the wife of a missing journalist asks for his help in finding her husband. It seems like a straightforward job, but as Carter digs into the circumstances surrounding the journalist's disappearance, it dawns on him that he has taken on a much bigger case than he expected - one he will be lucky to survive...
Ash Carter is back with an explosive new mystery! I am a huge fan of the Ash Carter books having consumed the Singapore Mysteries, and the prequel series set in Cyprus/Palestine/Israel (as well as the compelling trilogy that follows Carter's most dangerous foe, BlackJack, in Hong Kong), so I am delighted that Bailey has taken up his pen to write more adventures for him - this time in the post-war chaos of the Philippine Islands.
This new mystery picks up the thread following Carter's less than glorious departure from Singapore, where his life came crashing down in a delicious tangle of revelations that he has yet to come to terms with. Hong Kong is his destination, but fate intervenes to land him in Manila, where he reconnects with Bill Wolfe. Carter, being Carter, he cannot find it within him to abandon Wolfe in his hour of need, even if his old compatriot is determined to rebuff his kindly attentions, and soon he is up to the the kind of shenanigans that bring out the best in him.
The story unfurls with Carter travelling all over the Philippine islands trying to discover what the missing journalist was working on to have made rich and powerful enemies, finding unlikely allies along the way amongst a great new cast of characters. At the same time, he is determined to save Wolfe by getting to the bottom of the tragedy that has his friend on a self-destructive journey to alcohol-induced oblivion. And he has a lot of his own baggage to work through too.
Danger lurks on bustling street-corners and remote jungle roads; in smoky dive-bar environs and suspiciously helpful offices of authority; even in the vicinity of Manila's boxing circles as Carter returns to working out his frustrations on the canvas. Nowhere is safe from the unwanted attentions of criminal types who hide in plain sight, and those who employ respectable reputations to mask their murky machinations, and Bailey keeps the thrill level enjoyably set to the max as the plot thickens - before tying up the threads of more than one mystery in a very satisfying ending.
As is his forte, Bailey immerses you in time and place with rich settings that drip with well-researched historical detail, weaving gorgeous 1950's noir atmosphere into the proceedings, and he does an excellent job of getting to grips with the complicated political and societal situations that motivate his antagonists. I have learned so much about post-war history through Carter's eyes in Bailey's books, and this one is no exception.
This is a fine first instalment of a new era for Ash Carter, with real legs to run and run. I am already looking forward to the next one.
No Safe Place To Hide is available to buy now in in paperback and ebook formats.
Thank you to Murray Bailey for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Murray is well traveled, having worked in the US, South America and a number of European countries throughout his career as a management consultant. However he also managed to find the time to edit books, contribute to articles and act as a part-time magazine editor.
Murray was born in Manchester and now lives on the south coast of England with his family and two dogs, Teddy and Muffin.
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