Bleeding Heart Square

by Andrew Taylor

Overview

If Philippa Penhow hadn't gone to Bleeding Heart Square on that January day, you and perhaps everyone else might have lived happily ever after . . .

It's 1934, and the decaying London cul-de-sac of Bleeding Heart Square is an unlikely place of refuge for aristocratic Lydia Langstone. But as she flees her abusive marriage, there is only one person she can turn to--the genteelly derelict Captain Ingleby-Lewis, currently lodging at Number 7.

However, unknown to Lydia, a dark mystery haunts the decrepit building. What happened to Miss Penhow, the middle-aged spinster who owns the house and who vanished four years earlier? Why is a seedy plain-clothes policeman obsessively watching the square? What is making struggling journalist Rory Wentwood so desperate to contact Miss Penhow?

And why are parcels of rotting hearts being sent to Joseph Serridge, the last person to see Miss Penhow alive?

Legend has it the devil once danced in Bleeding Heart Square--but is there now a new and sinister presence lurking in its shadows? Bleeding Heart Square is Andrew Taylor's most compelling mystery yet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781401396459
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	03/03/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	940,358
File size:	908 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrew Taylor is the author of many crime and suspense novels. The recipient of the Crime Writers' Association 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing, Taylor has also won the CWA's John Creasey Award, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, an Audie, and two CWA's Ellis Peters Historical Daggers (a unique achievement), as well as a shortlisting for the CWA's Gold Dagger. His website is www.andrew-taylor.co.uk.

Editorial Reviews

British author Taylor (An Unpardonable Crime) springs a number of well-timed and well-planned surprises in this briskly paced thriller set in November 1934. Fed up with the slights and slaps of her husband, well-to-do Lydia Langstone decides to room temporarily with her father, whom she hasn't seen since she was a toddler, in his seedy boarding house in London's Bleeding Heart Square. Lydia soon finds out that papa is in the pocket of landlord Joseph Serridge, a darkly charismatic man skilled at manipulating others. Serridge is being investigated by another tenant, journalist Rory Wentwood, for his involvement in the disappearance of Philippa Penhow, the house's former owner. As Lydia helps Rory in his delvings, she uncovers a tangled skein of scandal and deadly intrigues stretching back decades and involving many of those near and dear to her. A hasty finale is the only misstep in this otherwise satisfying period piece. (Mar.)

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Publishers Weekly

In 1934 London, well-born Lydia Langstone finally flees her home after years of abuse by her husband and takes refuge with the father she never knew in his seedy rooms in Bleeding Heart Square. She meets journalist Rory Wentwood, who is investigating the disappearance of Miss Penhow from that very house four years earlier. Rory doubts that the missing woman really moved to New York with a lover. Meanwhile, mysterious packages arrive for the landlord. Why is someone sending him rotting hearts? What does it have to do with Miss Penhow's disappearance? Taylor intersperses entries from Miss Penhow's diary with the present-day storyline. Except for references to fascism and motorcars, this grim novel feels more like it is set in 1834 than 1934. There isn't much of a mystery, the action is slow, and the characters are rather one-dimensional. A disappointment after the author's enjoyable An Unpardonable Crime; recommended only for libraries where Taylor is popular.
—Laurel Bliss

Library Journal

Brutality lurks just beneath the surface of 1930s England in this absorbing Gothic mystery from British author Taylor (An Unpardonable Crime, 2004, etc.). Three tangled threads weave through the atmospheric story. The reader, forthrightly addressed as "you," is made disconcertingly privy to the secrets memorialized in the diary of Philippa Penhow, a lonely spinster who falls easy prey to the flattery of Major Joseph Serridge. Miss Penhow's tragic, mysterious fate is intertwined with that of the later residents of Bleeding Heart Square, including gracious Lydia Langstone, a fugitive from her prominent, abusive husband; her drunken father, Captain Ingleby-Lewis; and Mr. Fimberry, the shell-shocked assistant sexton of the ancient church in the square. Urged on by the shadowy Mr. Narton, Rory Wentwood investigates Miss Penhow's disappearance in the hopes of claiming her estate for his fiancee, Miss Penhow's niece Fenella. As he proceeds, a chain of sinister coincidences encircles Rory and Lydia, while poverty, fascism and literally bleeding hearts mount at their doorstep. At length all three threads are twisted together in a satisfying resolution that is darkly just but not merciful. A gripping tale whose slow nightmare of terror is made even more resonant by its unimpeachable logic.

Kirkus Reviews

"A well crafted mystery, told with style."—Anne Perry

"A compelling and suspenseful evocation of London in that uneasy period before WWII. In Lydia Langstone, Andrew Taylor has created a protagonist of her time, an intelligent woman coming to terms with her growing sense of self. Intricately plotted and beautifully crafted."—Margaret Maron, author of Death's Half Acre and Hard Row

"Finely drawn period atmosphere, compellingly complex characters, breath-stopping suspense, then twists that will leave you reeling. Taylor is a riveting storyteller, and Bleeding Heart Square may be his best work yet. Absolutely bloody brilliant!!"—Deborah Crombie

"It's easy to see why Andrew Taylor's historical mysteries have won so many accolades. The square itself emerges as a major player in this atmospheric, elegantly told mystery, in which you, the reader, are assigned the role of detective."—Rhys Bowen, Agatha, Anthony and MacAvity award-winning author of the Molly Murphy and Royal Spyness mystery series

From the Publisher

"It's easy to see why Andrew Taylor's historical mysteries have won so many accolades. The square itself emerges as a major player in this atmospheric, elegantly told mystery, in which you, the reader, are assigned the role of detective."

Rhys Bowen

"Finely drawn period atmosphere, compellingly complex characters, breath-stopping suspense, then twists that will leave you reeling. Taylor is a riveting storyteller, and Bleeding Heart Square may be his best work yet. Absolutely bloody brilliant!!"

Deborah Crombie

"A compelling and suspenseful evocation of London in that uneasy period before WWII. In Lydia Langstone, Andrew Taylor has created a protagonist of her time, an intelligent woman coming to terms with her growing sense of self. Intricately plotted and beautifully crafted."

Margaret Maron

"A well crafted mystery, told with style."

Anne Perry