NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A man tasked with locating a missing person becomes entangled in a small English town’s dark underbelly in this “superb thriller” ( San Francisco Chronicle ) from the author of Gorky Park . “Thoroughly involving . . . Rose is a work of Dickensian complexity and plot twists, a literate mystery that’s as much concerned with the workings of the human heart as it is with whodunit and why.”— Houston Chronicle For explorer and adventurer Jonathan Blair, nothing could be more repulsive than trekking to the dreary coal town of Wigan, England. But he has no choice. To earn passage back to his beloved Africa, Blair must accept a commission: discover what happened to the missing Reverend, John Maypole. Yet once in Wigan, Blair finds the locals as impenetrable as the coal-choked sky. Maypole’s fiancée seems unconcerned that he has vanished, and the last person to see the Reverend is a mysteriously elusive pit girl named Rose. As Blair searches for answers, he plunges into a dangerous web of sweltering intrigue and chilling souls. And soon a startling story emerges, revealing a truth more shocking than Blair ever could have imagined. . . . “A superb thriller that will keep the reader breathless right up to the final page.” — San Francisco Chronicle “The most interesting and richly textured crime story of the season.” — Time “[Smith] at the top of his form . . . Brisk and edifying entertainment . . . Blair is out of Graham Greene and John le Carré.” — The New York Times “Superior . . . Rose has one of those powerfully involving plots that keeps you in an enjoyable dither, eager to turn the pages and reluctant to reach the last one.” — Chicago Tribune “Rich in historical and social detail . . . In Rose , Smith has once again succeeded in giving us a book that brings alive a people and place previous foreign. He’s made Wigan as real as Moscow.” — The Washington Post Book World “Intriguing . . . admirable.” — Los Angeles Times “Thoroughly involving . . . vivid writing and consummate storytelling . . . Rose is a work of Dickensian complexity and plot twists, a literate mystery that’s as much concerned with the workings of the human heart as it is with whodunit and why.” — Houston Chronicle 1872. The place is Wigan, England, a coal town where rich mine owners live lavishly alongside miners no better than slaves. Into this dark, complicated world comes Jonathan Blair, who has accepted a commission to find a missing man. When he begins his search every road leads back to one woman, a haughty, vixenish pit girl named Rose. With her fiery hair and skirts pinned up over trousers, she cares nothing for a society that calls her unnatural, scandalous, erotic. As Rose and Blair circle one another, first warily, then with the heat of mutual desire, Blair loses his balance. And the lull induced by Rose's sensual touch leaves him unprepared for the bizarre, soul-scorching truth. . . . The year is 1872. The place is Wigan, England, a coal town where rich mine owners live lavishly alongside miners no better than slaves. Into this dark, complicated world comes Jonathan Blair, who has accepted a commission to find a missing man. When he begins his search every road leads back to one woman, a haughty, vixenish pit girl named Rose. With her fiery hair and skirts pinned up over trousers, she cares nothing for a society that calls her unnatural, scandalous, erotic. As Rose and Blair circle one another, first warily, then with the heat of mutual desire, Blair loses his balance. And the lull induced by Rose's sensual touch leaves him unprepared for the bizarre, soul-scorching truth.... Martin Cruz Smith ’s novels include Gorky Park , Stallion Gate , Polar Star , Stalin’s Ghost , Rose , December 6 , Tatiana, Havana Bay, Red Square, and The Girl from Venice . He is a two-time winner of the Hammett Prize, a recipient of Britain’s Golden Dagger Award, and a winner of the Premio Piemonte Giallo Internazionale. He passed away in 2025. The most beautiful women in the world were African.   Somali women wrapped in robes suffused with purple, vermilion, pink. Around their necks beads of amber that, rubbed together, emitted electricity and the scent of lemons and honey.   Women of the Horn who peered through veils of gold, strands in the shape of tinkling teardrops. They stood veiled in black from head to toe, their longing compressed into kohl-edged eyes. In the Mountains of the Moon, Dinka women, dark and smooth as the darkest smoothest wood, tall and statuesque within beaded corsets that would be cut open only on their wedding nights.   And the women of the Gold Coast in golden chains, bells, bracelets, dancing in skirts of golden thread in rooms scented by cinnamon, cardamom, musk.   Jonathan Blair awoke tangled in damp sheets and shivering to the rain, gas fumes and soot that pressed against his lodging’s single window. He wished he could slip back into his dream, but it was gone