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(US Title: The Solitary House)
Lynn Shepherd
Corsair (Constable and
Robinson)
2 February 2012/ISBN: 9781780331669
Historical Mystery / 1850 / London
Amazon
US
- UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Charles Maddox, a private investigator, is currently on the trail
of a woman, who was cast out by her father after becoming pregnant.
Last seen many years before giving birth at a local workhouse, he
does not hold much hope of tracing her. But it looks as though a
more lucrative assignment might be in the offing, for renowned barrister
Edward Tulkinghorn wants him to locate somebody too. This person
has been writing threatening letters to one of London's wealthiest
and most powerful men and Charles has to discover who is behind
it all. He is also going to discover a lot more than that.
If one of the names above sounds familiar then you are right. This
is not the sequel to Bleak House but more a story featuring some
of the characters and dealing with other matters. It also manages
to involve, albeit somewhat distantly, characters from The Woman
in White as well, so anybody keen on getting stuck into a tortuous
Victorian mystery will want to read this one. Told in the present
tense for the most part, the story unrolls before us like a colorful,
if grimy, length of carpet,which brings it some immediacy. More
imaginatively still, it is told in third person as though in the
future, although not a lot is made of this apart from the odd surprising
mention of present day matters. On the surface it has a lot in common
with other mysteries set in Victorian times in its themes and plot
strands but the inclusion of characters from literature, sheer depth
of research and tactile descriptions set it apart. There are a few
surprises too, and at the end I felt I just read something rather
more imaginative and thoughtful than the average historical detective
novel. Impressive.
US Review: The
Solitary House
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