David Ash is investigating a mysterious and secluded stately home, deep in the countryside. There have been reports from locals about strange goings on, they think it might be haunted...

What Ash eventually discovers is truly shocking.

Macmillan is proud to announce a major publishing event. James Herbert is Britain's bestselling horror writer - a position he has held ever since publication of his first novel, The Rats, in 1975, which is now widely accepted as a classic of popular fiction. He is one of the world's top writers of horror or chiller fiction and undoubtedly one of Britain's greatest popular novelists.

In 2012 Pan Macmillan will be publishing a new novel, entitled Ash, which features one of Herbert's best-loved characters, David Ash, the sceptical paranormal detective, first encountered in The Ghosts of Sleath and Haunted, both No. 1 bestsellers.

Dim the lights, close the doors and prepare to be chilled to your core . . .