Synopses & Reviews
Lynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense,
Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the era of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.
London, 1850. Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he works alone, struggling to eke out a living by tracking down criminals. Whenever he needs it, he has the help of his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary “thief taker,” a detective as brilliant and intuitive as they come.
On Charles’s latest case, he’ll need all the assistance he can get.
To his shock, Charles has been approached by Edward Tulkinghorn, the shadowy and feared attorney, who offers him a handsome price to do some sleuthing for a client. Powerful financier Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and Tulkinghorn wants Charles to — discreetly — 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 an unspeakable truth, Charles can only be aided so far by Maddox. The old man shows signs of forgetfulness and anger, symptoms of an age-related ailment that has yet to be named.
Intricately plotted and intellectually ambitious, The Solitary House is an ingenious novel that does more than spin an enthralling tale: It plumbs the mysteries of the human mind.
Review
“A Victorian tour de force that borrows characters from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White….Shepherd offers an intricate plot and a thousand details of the least-admirable side of Victorian life. A must-read.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
“[Lynn] Shepherd follows her 2010 debut, Murder at Mansfield Park, which successfully channeled Jane Austen, with an equally satisfying reworking of Bleak House, which Dickens once considered titling The Solitary House....The reader is plunged into a complex but comprehensible labyrinth of deception.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“Dickens fans will rejoice….a story of pervasive deviance so sinister that even those hardened to London’s nineteenth-century underworld will reel in shock….Shepherd leaves the reader spellbound by masterfully building suspense, creating a pervasively clammy and befogged atmosphere, and offering a cast of unforgettably peculiar characters, making the most of authentic, period language and a soupçon of subtle humor.” Booklist (starred review)
Review
“Fans of Charles Dickens will revel in this engrossing tale...bursting with compelling scenes and characters.” BookPage
Review
“The star of Lynn Shepherd’s intriguing mystery novel is mid-century Victorian London....Her suspenseful story and winning prose ably serve her literary conceit.” Associated Press
Synopsis
London, 1850. In the gaslit world of Dickens, Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he struggles to eke out a living by tracking down criminals. Whenever he needs it, he has the help of his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary “thief-taker,” a detective as brilliant and intuitive as they come. And on Charles’s latest case, he’ll need all the assistance he can get. To his shock, Charles has been approached by Edward Tulkinghorn, a shadowy and feared attorney, who offers him a handsome price to do some sleuthing for a client. A powerful financier has been receiving threatening letters, and Tulkinghorn wants Charles to find whoever is responsible. But what starts as a simple case swiftly escalates into something much darker, as Charles cascades toward a collision with a dangerous and unspeakable truth.
About the Author
Lynn Shepherd is the author of the award-winning Murder at Mansfield Park. She studied English at Oxford and was a professional copywriter for over a decade. She is currently at work on her next novel of historical suspense, A Treacherous Likeness, which Delacorte will publish in 2013.