Hi MN readers! Am hoping you can help me with a question which has been bugging me for a while now.
A few years ago (about 5 I think) I bought a newly released paperback to take on holiday. From what I can remember it was a detective novel set in Victorian London, I think by a first-time author. I think the author was female though I’m not 100% on that.
From memory, it involved a younger son from a rich family who had been a bit of a wastrel up until that point, somehow getting embroiled in some kind of mystery (can’t remember what) which centred around a workhouse or poorhouse and he has to go undercover and live there to figure the mystery out. There’s a murder at one point and I think a child figured in the plot. It was quite clear from the ending that the author was setting our wayward hero up for a series of detective novels.
It was very well written and good quality, if you see what I mean, not a kind of cheap schlock thriller or anything.
Unfortunately although I loved the book and totally devoured it, I left it behind at the holiday cottage and despite searching online I’ve not been able to figure out what it was
I was wondering because I would absolutely love to read any further books in the series, if there are any.
Does ANYONE have any idea what this book might have been ?!
Could be one of the Lady Emily mysteries by Tasha Alexander one of the Mrs. Jeffries series by Emily Brightwell either of the Monk or Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry Harriet Vane series by Dorothy L. Sayers
Thanks but it’s none of those. My book had a male protagonist. It was published within the last decade, probably around five years ago. Dorothy Sayers books aren’t Victorian.
You're not thinking of House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz are you? I think that was a new Sherlcok Holmes mystery, but I might have misremembered. It did feature children and having to visit an isolated school or workhouse. And was published about four or five years ago.
@Celebelly you’re a genius ! Thank you SO MUCH. It is indeed The Devil In The Marshalsea and I see she’s published two more books in the series since then so yay !!!
Until you discovered it was The Devil in the Marshalsea, I was going to suggest the Sebastian St Cyr mysteries - I think you might like them as well if you're looking for something else!
Thanks for the recommendation ! Will look into it. I came across a review which said it was similar to the Dissolution series by CJ Sansom, will have a look at that too.
CJ Sansom's Shardlake series is excellent. And if you like that kind of thing, SJ Parrish's Bruno series is a similar kind of thing, just set a smidge later (Elizabethan era as opposed to Tudor).
Off topic but @Nousernameforme Abe books is owned by Amazon so may not be a good alternative depending on the reason you are avoiding Amazon. The orders do go to bookshops but I don't think they get much of the money from the sale.
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