Book 5 of 5: Ash Carter Near East Crime-Thriller
Murray Bailey

Published 25 Sept 2026
SYNOPSIS
The war may have ended, but the cover-ups never did.
Israel 1950. SIB Captain Ash Carter is called into the British ’embassy’ to report on the death-in-service of a consular officer. Despite assurances that there is nothing suspicious, Carter begins a challenging investigation – one that the authorities disprove of. And the deeper he digs, the more complex it appears.
Meeting an Israeli private detective, investigating a linked crime, Carter forms an uneasy alliance. Together, they uncover something too shocking to be believed without hard proof. With the highest of political stakes, distrust at every turn, deceit, kidnapping and murder, Carter must find a balance between the law, justice and revenge.
Dead Man’s Run is the fifth historical crime novel in the Ash Carter Near East series but can be read as a stand-alone

MY REVIEW
Another fast paced, action packed thriller from Murray Bailey.
I am such a huge fan of Murray’s writing and his characters feel like old friends.
Ash Carter is a military investigator, and in this outing he is called to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a suicide.
However, in Ash’s dog with a bone style he uncovers not only the fact it was not a suicide, but a huge forgery business where loose ends seem to be getting tied off.
I was delighted that Ash’s friend and colleague Bill Wolfe turns up in this one.
The perfectly described setting in 1950’s Israel sucked me right in to the action.
My heart was pounding so many times as Ash gets himself into a fair few situations requiring his boxing training to be used.
There is no dip in the middle of the book and no unnecessary fillers just non stop action all the way which ramps up even further towards the end.
Oh and the pointy ears had me giggling!
Phew I feel I have done a few rounds with Mike Tyson but in a good way!
And I have a favourite line from the book. How’s this for a page turning quote:
‘Mayhem was coming and it was on a timer’
Yes! I’m here for the mayhem!
Could this be Murray’s best book yet?
Can’t wait for more!
Thanks to Murray for an advance copy of Dead Man’s Run and for having me on the blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Murray Bailey Is the author of the Ash Carter thrillers, inspired by his father’s experience in the Royal Military Police in Singapore in the early 1950s. From the prequel series, based in Cyprus and Israel, The Prisoner of Acre won the 2025 Page Turner Award. A post-Singapore series is based in the Philippines. The Heretic Cypher is the first book of a trilogy featuring a young Robert Langdon-type character decrypting secret messages written by an ancient Egyptian.
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.

















