Congratulations to David Field, whose twisty Victorian thriller, The Retirement Murder, is out now!
The Retirement Murder is the ninth instalment in the Esther and Jack Enright Mystery Series – a traditional British detective series set in Victorian London and packed full of suspense.
London, 1898
The time has finally come for Percy Enright to retire from Scotland Yard. His nephew, Jack, is sad to lose a partner in the force, but Jack’s wife Esther is glad Percy won’t be getting her husband into any further scrapes.
It seems Esther’s relief might be short lived, though, when a senior officer collapses at Percy’s farewell ceremony.
It soon becomes clear that the officer was poisoned, and Percy delays retirement to help Jack track down the culprit.
It’s a daunting task that involves trawling through all the murdered officer’s recent cases in the search for someone who may still bear him a grudge.
But when it becomes clear the dead man may not have been the intended target, the investigation suddenly turns in a new direction.
Why are the police being targeted? Can Percy make one final arrest before he retires?
Or will the murderer outwit the Enrights in their latest case…?
In this behind-the-scenes blog series, Sapere Books authors offer an intriguing insight into how, where and why they write.
Today, we are delighted to spotlight Marilyn Todd, author of the Julia McAllister Victorian Mysteries series.
Medieval castle at the bottom of Marilyn’s garden
Living on a French hilltop, with a medieval castle at the bottom of our garden, Roman remains beside a river in the valley, and with the Hennessey Cognac estate on one side, Martell on the other — I couldn’t ask for a lovelier or more tranquil setting.
Okay, there are diggers outside at the moment, replacing water pipes in the very same trenches the electricity people dug (then filled in) exactly one week before. But usually the loudest sound is birdsong, and the mewing of buzzards circling overhead. Just the ticket when you come home bursting with ideas that need to be turned into stories without distractions. From Sicily to Arizona, Sweden to Nova Scotia, I find inspiration everywhere.
Sweden? That was when we were walking a little out-and-back coastal path — worryingly easy to imagine two people going out, but only one of them coming back.
Nova Scotia? Who wouldn’t be inspired by the biggest disaster no one’s ever heard of, when a French ship carrying enough explosives to end the First World War collided with a Norwegian ship coming the wrong way up the channel? The explosion took close to 2,000 lives, injured 9,000 more, destroyed everything in a half-mile radius, spiked a tsunami, and scattered debris several miles inland.
Sicily drew me back to ancient history, inspiring the second book in the Claudia Seferius series, Virgin Territory, as well as Blind Eye — set in Ancient Greece this time, rather than Rome — and debunked the myth of the Cyclops.
As always, Arizona never fails to deliver, especially when my story ‘The Wickedest Town in the West’ scooped an Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine award, of which I am ridiculously proud.
But while we travel a lot, not everything I write is inspired by breathtaking scenery, adventures and legends. My first series with Sapere Books, which kicked off with Snap Shot, was influenced by the emerging science of forensic evidence at the end of the nineteenth century, and the importance of studying crime scenes. Hence Britain’s first crime scene photographer, Julia McAllister.
My new Firefly series, coming soon with Sapere, tackles the inequalities women faced in Edwardian times, especially domestic violence, which was banned between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. because the noise interrupted other people’s sleep. Battling the system is Kitty Sullivan, who runs a gentleman’s club with a fleet of … let’s say exotic dancers, to fund a women’s refuge. Environments that, unsurprisingly, provoke dangerous situations, which Kitty faces down with charm, wit and, of course, a silver Derringer.
After all, there’s no point in having double standards, if you don’t live up to both of them.
Congratulations to Linda Stratmann, whose absorbing historical mystery, Sherlock Holmes and the Mycroft Incident, is published today!
Sherlock Holmes and the Mycroft Incident is the seventh Victorian crime thriller in the Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
1877
A trusted government courier, Anthony Cloudsdale, has gone missing after delivering some secret documents.
The police are questioning everyone who works at Whitehall, and their attention has been drawn to a young clerk, Joshua Emmett, who is in need of funds and might have been vulnerable to bribery.
Emmett is an old schoolfriend of Mycroft Holmes and Mycroft approaches his private-investigator brother, Sherlock Holmes for help.
Holmes and Mycroft collaborate with the assistance of Holmes’ trusted friend Mr Stamford, but each time they discover new information about Cloudsdale’s disappearance, it appears to provide evidence of Emmett’s involvement.
And when a body is found in the Thames, Emmett is arrested.
But is the body Cloudsdale’s? Can Sherlock prove Emmett’s innocence?
Or is Mycroft trying to protect a guilty man…?
Congratulations to Linda Stratmann, whose atmospheric historical mystery, Sherlock Holmes and the Legend of the Great Auk, is published today!
Sherlock Holmes and the Legend of the Great Auk is the fifth Victorian crime thriller in the Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
London, 1877
The unveiling of a new specimen of the extinct Great Auk leads to accusations of fraud against the British Museum and a ferocious attack on the exhibit by ornithologist Charles Smith.
Sherlock Holmes is tasked with saving the reputation of the museum, but before long, Smith is found murdered.
Police think it was a random robbery gone wrong but when Holmes examines the crime scene, he is sure there is more to it.
Aided by his loyal friend Mr Stamford, Holmes is determined to discover if the museum has something to hide.
Is there more to the legend of the Great Auk? Why has this exhibit attracted so much controversy?
Could more lives be in danger…?
Congratulations to Linda Stratmann, whose eerie historical mystery, Sherlock Holmes and the Persian Slipper, is published today!
Sherlock Holmes and the Persian Slipper is the fourth Victorian crime thriller in the Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
London, 1877
When medical student Mr Stamford is visited by his cousin, Lily, he is disturbed by the sinister tale she relates.
Lily’s friend, Una, has recently inherited an old country house and settled down to married life in Coldwell, a small Essex village. However, Una’s letters to Lily indicate that she is alarmed by her new husband’s secretive behaviour — especially when she discovers a gun in his drawer, tucked inside a Persian slipper. Fearing for her friend’s safety, Lily asks Stamford to pay Una a visit.
To his dismay, Stamford arrives in Coldwell to find that Una’s husband, John Clark, has been found dead, lying in bed with a gunshot wound in his chest. Close examination reveals that the bullet was fired from Clark’s own gun, through the toe of the slipper.
Stamford loses no time in alerting his acquaintance, Sherlock Holmes — an artful young sleuth — hoping that he can shed some light on Clark’s death.
As Holmes and Stamford begin to probe Clark’s past, it soon becomes obvious that he had plenty to hide. And when Holmes hears of further suspicious disappearances, he starts to search for the connection between the sinister mysteries…
Congratulations to J. C. Briggs, whose thrilling Dickensian adventure, The Jaggard Case, is published today!
The Jaggard Case is the tenth urban mystery in J. C. Briggs’ literary historical series, the Charles Dickens investigations, a traditional British detective series set in Victorian London.
London, 1851
With Superintendent Sam Jones away in Southampton on the trail of missing murderer Martin Jaggard, his wife, Elizabeth, enlists the help of Charles Dickens when her beloved servant, Posy, goes missing.
Meanwhile, Jones apprehends Jaggard’s mistress, Cora Davies, who is in possession of stolen jewels belonging to Jaggard’s murder victim, Sir William Pell.
But Jones is no closer to finding the man himself, so he returns to London where he believes Jaggard may be hiding.
Dickens and Jones discover that their separate cases both have links to Clerkenwell – a notorious haunt for criminals and forgers.
And when they suspect they are being followed, they realise Jaggard may be onto them.
Was Jaggard behind Posy’s abduction? Is the servant girl still alive?
Or will more victims be found dead in the mysterious Jaggard Case…?
Congratulations to J. C. Briggs, whose absorbing historical mystery, Summons to Murder, is publishing today!
Summons to Murder is set in Victorian England and is the ninth book in the Charles Dickens Investigations series.
Pierce Mallory, a gentleman journalist, is found dead in his lodgings with a gunshot wound in his head and a duelling pistol beside him.
Though the death is deemed a suicide, Mallory’s friends — including Charles Dickens — don’t believe that he would have taken his own life.
Dickens therefore returns to the scene of Mallory’s demise, along with Superintendent Sam Jones from Bow Street. On further investigation, they soon find evidence that Mallory was murdered.
A notorious philanderer, there are plenty of people who could have wanted Mallory dead — including abandoned lovers and jealous husbands.
And as Dickens and Jones dig further into Mallory’s personal affairs, it seems that there are more shocking scandals waiting to be uncovered…
Click here to order Summons to Murder
Marilyn Todd is the author of the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery series: historical murder mysteries with a courageous woman sleuth embarking on traditional British private investigations in nineteenth-century London.
The case of the Lindbergh baby is infamous. In March 1932, he was snatched from his nursery, a ransom note left in his place, and although the money was paid, two agonising months passed without news. It was pure chance that his body was found, thrown or dumped just off the highway, suggesting he was killed almost immediately after his abduction.
I don’t know if it was because Charles Lindbergh was famous — the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic — but it struck me that all the sympathy for this horrific crime went to the father, rather than both parents. I desperately wanted to change that.
In Bad Blood — the third book in the Julia McAllister series — baby Thomas Forbes is also snatched from his nursery, and a ransom demand is left on the pillow. The difference here is that the money is never collected, and the baby never found. When, eight years later, his father is murdered, Julia’s heart breaks for the woman brought to her knees by these two tragedies. As an amateur sleuth, Julia determines to do whatever it takes to find Thomas.
But as I plotted the novel, I was drawn into other injustices of the era. Not just the social inequalities — class, race and religious divides feature regularly in my books — but also the impact of being a pawn in the marriage game among the powerful and the wealthy. I wanted to explore the misery that comes from being a strong woman trapped in a weak man’s world.
Click here to pre-order BAD BLOOD
Click here to learn more about the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery Series
Marilyn Todd’s witty and atmospheric Julia McAllister Victorian Mysteries follow a courageous female photographer-cum-sleuth as she investigates London’s shadiest characters.
The first two books in the series — SNAP SHOT and CAST IRON — are already published, and we are delighted to have signed up the next two instalments.
In Marilyn’s words:
“I’m thrilled to be continuing Julia’s story, and quite frankly, having this series in the hands of a dynamic publishing team like Sapere is the icing on the cake!
“The third instalment, BAD BLOOD, sees Julia tasked with photographing the scene of a factory owner’s murder. A man who treated his workers like dirt, and his wife even worse. It’s not so much a question of who’d want him dead — more who wouldn’t. But eight years earlier, his son was abducted, and Julia soon realises that the kidnap and murder are connected. The trouble is, knowing who’s responsible is one thing, proving it is quite another. Especially when the killer knows she’s on to them.
“This is followed by DEAD DROP. Music halls were a popular antidote to the noise and smoke belching out of the Industrial Revolution, but the lives of the entertainers were gruelling. When a young showgirl is found hanged, Julia doesn’t believe it was suicide. Too late, she discovers that the truth hurts, but secrets kill, putting her own life on the line…”
Click here to find out more about the Julia McAllister Victorian Mysteries
Linda Stratmann is the author of the MINA SCARLETTI INVESTIGATIONS, a traditional British detective series set in Victorian Brighton.
More than a year ago, I determined to write a book in which Mina Scarletti, disabled by the scoliosis that twists her spine and cramps her lungs, is taken ill and solves a mystery while confined to bed. It is not a new concept. In The Wench is Dead, Inspector Morse solves a Victorian murder while in hospital, and in Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time, Inspector Alan Grant, hospitalised with a broken leg, explores the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
But these are historical puzzles, and therefore considered suitable to engage the mind of a bored invalid. In His Father’s Ghost, Mina has additional challenges. She is intrigued by a current conundrum, the disappearance of a local man while out sailing, declared legally dead, but his actual fate unknown. Her doctor, however, has advised her against any activity that might tax her delicate health, and that includes solving mysteries. She has to use all her ingenuity to gather the information she needs. In doing so, she finds that she has uncovered evidence of past crimes and scandals. Her enquiries are a catalyst that set off a train of events that ultimately have dramatic and life-changing consequences for several prominent citizens of Brighton.
One of the themes which I explore in this book is hallucination. Mina, when stricken by a fever, sees and hears things that reveal what is troubling her. The son of the vanished man, disturbed by significant events, has terrifying visions in those dark hours that lie between sleeping and waking.
I really enjoyed my research for this book. I visited the fascinating Police Cells Museum of Brighton, and read about the curious spiritoscope, an apparatus designed to prove that it was spirits and not the medium who cause the movement of the divination table.
It was my real pleasure to include two characters who have appeared in previous books, the flamboyant actor Marcus Merridew, fresh from his acclaimed season as Hamlet, and the creepy young photographer Mr Beckler.
While editing the manuscript, which was completed at the end of 2019, I was struck by how Mina’s plight echoes our current time. She is ill with a lung infection, and effectively on lockdown. But when she scents a puzzle, it gives her strength. She needs not only warmth and air and nourishment, but material to keep her busy mind alive.
Click here to pre-order HIS FATHER’S GHOST
David Field is the author of the Carlyle & West Victorian Mysteries.
As a historical novelist in search of bygone eras to recreate, I’ve always been fascinated by the late Victorian period. It was a time of contrasts, with vast scientific, medical and technological breakthroughs coming at a time when ordinary folk were obsessed with communicating with the dead. Victoria seemed destined to rule forever over a rich empire, while her subjects in its industrial cities, and most notably in its London capital, were existing in conditions of abject poverty.
Following the success of my Esther & Jack Enright mystery series, which began with the search for Jack the Ripper and ended just as the nineteenth century was about to, I was urged to return to this rich seam of inspiration, and there was – for me, at least – one obvious place to start.
When Arthur Conan Doyle abandoned medical practice and created his fascinating character Sherlock Holmes, he was inspired by his memory of a real life Sherlock. His name was Dr Joseph Bell, and he had taught anatomy to his classes of medical students at Edinburgh University, one of whom had been Doyle himself. Bell had what was then a unique approach to his analysis of the cadavers that were to be found on his mortuary slab, something that is second nature to modern forensic examiners, but was revolutionary in its day. He approached ‘cause of death’ by examining, not just insides of the bodies, but the clothing and personal possessions with which they arrived, and telltale indications on the skin, such as needle marks, abrasions, rough working hands and suchlike. From this he made logical deductions that were of value to police in unexplained death enquiries, and he taught his students to apply the same techniques when they went out into the world.
There must have been several generations of medical graduates from Edinburgh who were taught ‘the Bell method’, and it was no great stretch of the imagination for me to create Dr James Carlyle, anatomist and general surgeon at Whitechapel’s London Hospital – a medical doctor with the same professional training as Conan Doyle and the same inquisitive, logical mind as Joseph Bell.
His first challenge – described in the first novel in my new series, INTERVIEWING THE DEAD – is to debunk the panicked belief among the populace of the East End that the spirits of those buried in a Plague Pit in Aldgate have returned to take their revenge for the disturbance of their resting place. That belief has taken hold easily, given the obsession with Spiritualism that gripped the country during this period.
But there were also other ‘spirits’ abroad, and they were advocating for great social change. Chief among these were the Suffragists, who campaigned for ‘votes for women’ and Suffragettes who took on entire police forces in public demonstrations. There were also other groups of feminists, as we would call them today, who advocated for equality of admission to professions such as medicine and the law. This was how Dr James Carlyle’s daughter, Adelaide, was created, as a young woman whose opinion of men and their dominance of society could not have been any lower – until she meets my third new character, Matthew West.
Although the Anglican Church was ahead of all other Protestant movements in the 1890s, it was demonstrating a social elitism that drove away ordinary working folk, and left the pastoral door open for more working-class religious initiatives and crusades among the poor. ‘Methodism’ had become a religious movement of its own, with its own hierarchy, but its progenitor, ‘Wesleyism’, still had its head above the parapet, and Wesleyan street preachers such as Matthew West might be found on corners, in market places, and outside factory and dockside gates.
Matthew has his own reasons for wishing to hose down any belief in the return of vengeful spirits of the dead, and when he finds himself associated with Dr Carlyle in the search for the truth, he comes up against the fiery Adelaide, who works as her father’s assistant. They influence each other’s views on life as they are drawn imperceptibly into a mutual attraction.
The stage is set for my next series. I hope you’ll join me in following the exploits of this unlikely trio, and I look forward to learning your reaction to them.
Click here to pre-order INTERVIEWING THE DEAD!
Jean Stubbs is the author of the INSPECTOR LINTOTT INVESTIGATIONS series and the BRIEF CHRONICLES series. In celebration of her life and work, we asked her daughter, Gretel McEwen, to share her memories of Jean and her writing.
We lived in a world of stories, the line between reality and fiction often blurred. As a child, my mother had always made up plays and stories — her brother an unwilling but worshipful bit part player. A generation later, my mother made up fictional characters for my brother and I — she brought them to life with special voices and we talked to them. Alfred was a gentle and not very bright giant whose answer to any question was 29!
My mother had her first novel, The Rose Grower, published at the age of 35 and from that moment our house was filled with a whole cast of characters. I came home from school one day to find her weeping over the death of Hanrahan (Hanrahan’s Colony). And the hanging of Mary Blandy (My Grand Enemy) brought very dark clouds into our house.
As my mother surfed her way through this creative theatre, we learned to read the signs — coffee cups on every surface, a sink full of dishes and no plans for supper meant a good and productive writing day. A house full of the smell of baking, a gleaming kitchen and rice pudding in the oven either meant the dreaded writer’s block or a completed first draft. So we too surfed, adjusted and gloried in the passing show. My mother always wrote on our vast Edwardian dining table, and her writing companion was always the current much-loved cat. They had their own specially typed title page upon which to sit, since she had learned the hard way that cats like to sit on the top copy with muddy paws! The mystery cat was the black one who sat on a certain stair — but when you went to stroke him he was not there … another blurred line…
I felt closely involved with each novel as it progressed. At the end of a good writing day, my mother would read aloud to me the latest chapter — a fine reader with a different voice for each character, once more bringing it all to life. She wrote in long hand at first, then, as the book grew, she typed chapters then full copies and carbon copies for her publisher, Macmillan. Later, she was one of the early authors to use a word processor. When the first print draft came from the publisher, we would sit at each end of the dining room table and proofread — calling out corrections to each other and marking them on the manuscript.
Publication day was a celebration, shopping an occasion, dinner parties a reason for more excellent cooking, and royalty cheques a relief! When I left home, I greatly missed being a bit part player in this imaginative and unpredictable life of stories — and I missed the ghostly companions.
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE INSPECTOR LINTOTT INVESTIGATIONS
