He kept his secret for a lifetime. Now the truth will rock New York.

It is 1901, and Dr Gallagher has just pronounced Murray Hall dead. New York politico, gambler, womaniser – Hall is all these things, but when the press break the news of his death to the world, they reveal a side to his identity he never wanted known, a secret no one could have guessed.

One journalist is determined to uncover the truth of Hall’s past, but his search leads him down winding alleys of fact and fiction. From humble beginnings in Glasgow’s tenements to a life spent rubbing up against New York’s political elite, Murray Hall is the definition of a self-made man. But the higher his status rises, the higher the stakes become.

Inspired by a true story of one Scot’s rise to prominence, Murray Hall unearths a queer past erased by history, finally bringing all the puzzle pieces together to discover the secret of this extraordinary, ordinary man, which shocked New York, America and the world.

Milo Allan

Milo Allan is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Milo Clenshaw and Vicky Allan. Milo Clenshaw is a writer, producer and curator based in the Scottish Borders. Born in London and grew up in Edinburgh before moving south to complete an undergraduate degree in Film and English at the University of Bristol, and then to Glasgow in 2020 for a Masters in Film Curation. Now working in the Borders town of Hawick for the charity Alchemy Film & Arts, the home of the UK’s festival of experimental film, and as a freelance film curator. Vicky Allan is the environment correspondent for the Herald newspaper and has written many books about wild swimming, including the popular Taking the Plunge and The Art of Wild Swimming guides, working with the photographer Anna Deacon. She enjoys collaborative projects, and this is her first adventure in collaborative fiction. Her other books include a collection of personal stories about the menopause, created with Kaye Adams, and a creepy novel, Stray, about a cat. Vicky is married, has two teenage sons and a cat, and lives in Edinburgh.