Book description
The first man murdered was Abel Meredith, a resident at the Jesus
Hospital Almshouse near London. The second victim, Roderick Gill, was
burser at the Allison's school in Norfolk. Victim number three, Sir
Rufus Walcott, was slain in his own hall by the Thames. All had their
throats cut. And all had strange markings on their chests, carved
there by the murderer but which neither doctor nor coroner could
identify.
Lord Francis Powerscourt, brought in to solve
this case of triple murder, had no shortage of suspects or suspicions.
Meredith had shadowy links with the civil service. Gill, a man who
seduced women at church during Harvest Festival or the Christmas carol
service, had been threatened by angry husbands and disinherited sons
while Sir Rufus had wiped fifteen years out of his own past history.
And all had ties to Sir Peregrine Fishbourne, Prime Warden of the
Guild of Silkworkers, who had visited all three men shortly before
their untimely deaths. Yet on one question Powerscourt never wavered,
and he knew that only when he had solved the mystery of the strange
markings on the victims' bodies would he then be able to solve the
mystery of the death at the Jesus Hospital.
Praise for David Dickinson:
'Splendid entertainment'
Publishers Weekly
'A leisurely period whodunit with
Dickinson's customary historical tidbits and patches of local
color, swathed in an appealing Victorian narrative' Kirkus
Reviews
'Detective fiction in the grand style' James
Naughtie
'A cracking yarn, beguilingly real from start to
finish' Peter Snow