'William of Occam was an Englishman who said you should strip everything away to get at the simple answer, and that'd be the right one.' So Oranzio Carbone, the Italian, explains to Pearse Noonan, the Irishman. Oranzio, restaurateur and antique collector, and Pearse, retired electrician, have been playing chess together once a week for years. They share many experiences: both are widowers with an only, beloved child, both are immigrants in London, both have vivid memories of the halcyon days of their youth between the wars. And now, suddenly, both are threatened. As the Mafia close in on Oranzio, and the IRA on Pearse, the two old men turn to each other in the hope of finding a simple plan that will end all their troubles in one fell swoop...

'Lively, original and provocative, 'Occam's Razor' is a fluent, intelligent tale of two cultures.'

DANIEL JOHNSON, 'The Times'

'Duffy is a fine word-painter and she evokes the world in which the two men live with skill and sympathy: their vulnerability, their confusion, their residual dignity.'

DAVID ROBSON, 'Sunday Telegraph'

'The fourth of Duffy's novels to be set in London, 'Occam's Razor' consolidates her reputation as an imaginative poet of the city. Maureen Duffy has an acute ear... her portraits are masterly. With illuminating flashbacks the plot moves like a gripping chessgame to its climax. 'Occam's Razor' is a celebration of the richness and diversity of life... a well-paced thriller.'

SHENA MACKAY, 'Times Literary Supplement'

''Occam's Razor' is an exciting book. Its plot is tailor-made for a writer as adept at articulating both melodrama and routine as is Duffy. The interest with which she endows each life that enters her novel, gives the book a honeycombed richness.'

CANDIA McWILLIAM, 'Independent on Sunday'