Mortmain Hall

by Martin Edwards

Overview

Next in the Rachel Savernake series, perfect for fans of the Golden age of mystery and readers of Anthony Horowitz and Sherry Thomas.

Framed for murder and with nowhere to go, Jacob Flint turns to an eclectic group of people on a remote estate to save him…

1930. A chilling encounter on London's Necropolis Railway leads to murder and a man escapes the gallows after a witness gives sensational evidence. After this string of strange, fatal events, journalist Jacob Flint discovers that he has been framed for murder. To save himself, he flees to Mortmain Hall, a remote estate on the northern coast. There, an eccentric female criminologist hosts a gathering of eclectic people who have all escaped miscarriages of cruel justice. This strange group puts Jacob a little on edge, but they may be his only hope to clear his name.

When a body is found beneath the cliffs near the house, it seems this gathering might be an ingenious plot to get away with murder. Are these eccentrics victims or are they orchestrators of the great deception? Jacob must now set out to uncover the labyrinthine of secrets within Mortmain Hall, alongside Rachel Savernake, woman whose relentless quest for the truth might just bring down the British establishment...

Other books in the Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mysteries Series:

Gallows Court (Book 1)

Mortmain Hall (Book 2)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464214059
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	09/22/2020
Series:	Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mysteries , #2
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	291,536
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Martin Edwards is the recipient of the CWA 2020 Diamond Dagger Award for sustained excellence in his crime writing career and his significant contribution to the genre. His most recent novel is GALLOWS COURT, the second book in the Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery series. His eighth and most recent Lake District Mystery is THE GIRL THEY ALL FORGOT. Martin is also a well-known crime fiction critic, and series consultant to the British Library's Crime Classics. His groundbreaking study of the genre between the wars, The Golden Age of Murder, was warmly reviewed around the world, and won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards. His The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books has been nominated for five awards. A well-known commentator on crime fiction, he has edited 37 anthologies and published diverse nonfiction books, including a study of homicide investigation, Urge to Kill. An expert on crime fiction history, he is archivist of both the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club. He was elected eighth President of the Detection Club in 2015, is current Chair of the CWA, and posts regularly to his blog, 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?'

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/06/2020

Set in 1930s England, Edgar winner Edwards’s sequel to 2019’s Gallows Court is a triumph, from its tantalizing opening, in which an unnamed dying man begins to explain an unspecified perfect crime, through its scrupulously fair final reveal. Rachel Savernake, an enigmatic figure fascinated with mysteries, is tipped off by Reggie Vickers, who works in Whitehall, that someone is about to be murdered. Gilbert Payne, a publisher believed dead, is set to travel, incognito, from London to his mother’s funeral in the country. Rachel warns Gilbert that his life is in peril, but he ignores her, and ends up dead under the wheels of a train. Meanwhile, Rachel’s reporter friend, Jacob Flint, is approached by Leonora Dobell, one of the country’s top criminologists, who seeks an introduction to Rachel, who later attends a house party at Leonora’s home, Mortmain Hall, on the Yorkshire coast, for “acquitted murder suspects,” whose ranks include other individuals Reggie mentioned to Rachel. The labyrinthine plot builds to a logical explanation. Edwards, the current president of the Detection Club, a group of British mystery writers founded in 1930, impressively channels Agatha Christie, one of his predecessors in that position. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"[A] triumph, from its tantalizing opening, in which an unnamed dying man begins to explain an unspecified perfect crime, through its scrupulously fair final reveal...impressively channels Agatha Christie." — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

From the Publisher