“Gray has an exceptional eye for detail, and her characterisation is superb. It is a delight to discover characters like the enigmatic Stroop and the silk merchant Castracani, and refreshing that psychological development is deemed as important as historical detail…A fantastic first novel by a prize-winning short-story writer…”
(Lucinda Byatt : Historical Novels Review)

“Written in elegant, intelligent prose, Gray reclaims the historical crime novel from those practitioners content to serve up bland plot and blander writing…Stroop has the makings of a great detective in the cerebral Holmesian tradition…”
(Calum Macleod : Shotsmag Reviews)

“Clio is that rarest of finds, a natural writer…she has an incredible flair for atmosphere, imagery, setting and description. There is a strangeness and originality about her work – halfway between historical fiction and magic realism. Reading her is like being at a sumptuous feast in a palace, just before it is stormed.”
(Alan Bissett, author of “Boy Racers” and “The Incredible Adam Spark” and mentor for the Scottish Book Trust)

“A new novelist with a startlingly original voice…”
(Merric Davidson: The New Writer)

"Gray weaves her way through the highly-convoluted plot with typical panache...beguiling her readers with her remarkable powers of description (becoming) almost sensual as it brings her characters to life. To become lost in the world she creates is never a dificult task, and always rewarding."
(Yorkshire Post)

"Her novels have established her as a writer of highly original, intricately plotted crime fiction, which has depth as well as pace."
(Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman)

"Playfully elegant and effortlessly seductive..."
(Jeremy Jehu The Daily Telegraph)