Lynn Shepherd Knihy

In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein. Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet's literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley's first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide. As he's drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years. The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone's, Lynn Shepherd offers her own fictional version of that story, which suggests new and shocking answers to mysteries that still persist to this day, and have never yet been fully explained. Praise for Tom-All-Alone's:A brilliant and sinister remake of Bleak House, exposing the vicious underworld of Victorian London.

'A grisly period detective story.' The Times London, 1850: The Dickensian streets grow darker by the day. Private investigator Charles Maddox is surprised when he is approached by Edward Tulkinghorn for help. The feared and shadowy attorney offers Charles a handsome price he can't refuse to do some sleuthing for a client. Charles learns that Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and now Tulkinghorn wants him to find and stop whoever is responsible. But what starts as a simple, open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with powerful forces, Charles will need all the assistance he can get... The Man in Black takes a classic Charles Dickens novel and plummets readers into a newly reimagined and mysterious world. Fans of The Confessions of Frannie Langton and Stacey Halls will love this. Previously published as The Solitary House. Readers are loving The Man in Black: 'An intelligent and gripping post-modern crime novel. Beautifully written and cleverly plotted.' Lancashire Post 'You'll be guaranteed to enjoy.' Guardian 'This is a wonderful mystery...It has a dark Victorian tone, and is a gripping story. If you like literary historical mysteries, this is for you.' Reader Review '

A superb retelling of the Jane Austen novel in which Fanny Price becomes a scheming gold-digger and the house at Mansfield Park becomes the scene of one murder after another. Here, readers find Fanny Price forthright, ambitious, scheming and downright untrustworthy. What could possibly happen to a character like that? And how will the fortunes of the inhabitants of Mansfield Park be changed with the discovery of a dead body early one morning...?

In a dazzling mystery inspired by Bram Stoker's much-beloved Dracula, the critically acclaimed author of The Solitary House and A Fatal Likeness, Lynn Shepherd-and her brilliant Victorian detective Charles Maddox-return in their biggest, most challenging literary suspense novel yet. Clever, eerie and compelling by turns, The Pierced Heart finds detective Charles Maddox traveling to the remote castle of the enigmatic Baron Von Reisenberg, a pioneering scientist with a terrible secret. Meanwhile, London is in the throes of a series of brutal murders, executed by a mysterious killer known only as "The Vampire." What is the connection between the Baron and the murders? And what does the journal of a young theater assistant named Lucy have to do with it all? Maddox must find out. Drawing inspiration from both Dracula and from the strange life of a mysterious and long-forgotten real-life scientist, The Pierced Heart dramatizes a fatal clash between science and superstition, at a time of profound change and dangerous transition, and once again spins a gorgeously atmospheric literary suspense story from one of the world's most beloved novels.

Londen 1850. Mist en vuile straten, en een begraafplaats met de naam Tom-All-Alone's waar ratten wonen. De eerbiedwaardige advocaat Edward Tulkinghorn houdt kantoor in een chique huis in Lincoln's Inn Fields, waar hij zijn machtige cliënten beschermt en een dodelijk geheim verbergt. Dat geheim dreigt te worden onthuld door een schimmige en onzichtbare tegenstander, die koste wat het kost moet worden opgespoord en tot zwijgen gebracht. Ex-politieagent Charles Maddox, nu privédetective, moet die klus klaren. Algauw wordt de eerste gruwelijke moord gepleegd. Lynn Shepherd heeft zich voor Kerkhof in Londen laten inspireren door Charles Dickens meesterwerk Bleak House. Ze is verdergegaan waar Dickens moest ophouden: in haar spannende historische roman beschrijft ze een wereld waarin jeugdprostituees en te vondeling gelegde baby's ten prooi vallen aan de hebzucht en seksuele afwijkingen van de gegoede burgerij. En iedereen die daartegenin wil gaan wordt op genadeloze wijze uit de weg geruimd.