Book Synopsis:
How can you solve a murder before it’s happened?
‘This is my challenge for you,’ the woman in white said. ‘I want you to solve my murder.’
London, 1930s: Rachel Savernake is attending renowned artist Damaris Gethin’s latest exhibition, featuring live models who pose as famous killers. But that’s just the warm-up act…
Unsure why she was invited, Rachel is soon cornered by the artist who asks her a haunting favour: she wants Rachel to solve her murder. Damaris then takes to the stage set with a guillotine, the lights go out – and Damaris executes herself.
Why would Damaris take her own life? And, if she died by her own hand, what did she mean by ‘solve my murder’?
There are many questions to answer, and the clues are there for those daring enough to solve them…
Rachel Savernake faces her most puzzling murder yet in this glamorous gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Richard Osman.
My Review:
Sepulche Street is another fantastic, intriguing detective story from one of my favourite series.
Firstly I loved the premise of this book which seemed unusual and I wasn’t initially sure how it would all work out . What I found very interesting was the book isn’t about finding the murderer as it was a suicide but more about what causes the character to commit suicide which was a fascinating idea. It was great to follow the detectives into Damaris’s past and find out the secrets that lay there.
It really enjoyed being back with Rachel and Jacob solving another mystery with them. They make such a good team, with Rachel as the brains of the team but Jacob is very brave and willing to put himself in risky situations to try to find answers – which Rachel often has to rescue him from.
This book has a great pace to it and I quickly found myself drawn into the story. I thought the book was quite hard to put down as there always seemed to be something happening to keep my interest. The author drops lots of clues throughout the book so you have to pay attention to everything. There is also a clue finder at the back, popular in crime fiction between the wars, so you can go back and see where all the clues were. I loved this idea and enjoyed going back to see the (many) clues I missed. This book is the fourth book in the series and while I do think it could be read as a standalone, I would urge you to start at the beginning as this is a fantastic series!
Huge thanks to Sophie for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Martin Edwards has received the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, given for the sustained excellence of his contribution to the genre. His recent novels include Mortmain Hall and Gallows Court, which was nominated for two awards including the CWA Historical Dagger. British librarians awarded him the CWA Dagger in the Library in 2018 in recognition of his body of work. His eight and latest Lake District Mystery is The Crooked Shore and earlier books in the series include The Coffin Trail, short-listed for the Theakston’s prize for best British crime novel. Seven books in his first series, featuring Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin, starting with the CWA John Creasey Dagger-nominated All the Lonely People, have been reissued by Acorn in new editions with introductions by leading writers including Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid.
Martin is a well-known crime fiction critic, and series consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics. His ground-breaking study of the genre between the wars, The Golden Age of Murder won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards. The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books won the Macavity and was nominated for four other awards, while Howdunit, a masterclass in crime writing by members of the Detection Club, won the H.R.F. Keating prize and was nominated for five other awards. His long-awaited history of the genre, The Life of Crime, will be published in May 2022.
In addition Martin has written a stand-alone novel of psychological suspense, Take My Breath Away, and a much acclaimed novel featuring Dr Crippen, Dancing for the Hangman. He also completed Bill Knox’s last book, The Lazarus Widow. He has published many short stories, including the ebooks The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Acknowledgments and other stories. ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ won the CWA Short Story Dagger, for which he has been nominated for three other stories.
He has edited over 40 anthologies and published diverse non-fiction 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, spent two years as Chair of the CWA, and posts regularly to his blog, ‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’
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