A corrupt Victorian lawyer is at the centre of the latest installment of Harpenden author Carol Hedges’ acclaimed murder mystery series.
The sixth novel in the ‘Victorian Detectives’ series, titled ‘Fear and Phantoms’, features Det Insp Leo Stride and Det Sgt Jack Cully as they investigate the murder of a young man whose body is found buried deep in the snow.
Set against the backdrop of Victorian England in the 1860s, the two Scotland Yard detectives must navigate a murky underworld of murder and financial fraud to unmask the murderer before he can strike again.
The novel was published under Carol’s own imprint, Little G Books, named after her granddaughter, and follows the other books in the series Diamonds and Dust, Honour and Obey, Death and Dominion, Rack and Ruin and Wonders and Wickedness.
Carol said: “When I was doing my research I discovered there was a case where a high-profile lawyer was running copious bank frauds. It was quite a well-known case at the time. He was gambling and using money that he won.
“I just thought this was so interesting . You always think of criminals [from that time] having flat caps and bulldogs but there was some that were in extremely reputable positions.
“The character is Jacob Jarvis and he’s a very highly reputed lawyer who’s actually bringing down banks and has a gambling habit. It’s the same two main characters but there are lots of little running stories that go through all six, so you can read them as a stand alone book or you can read the whole series.
To research her novels, Carol reads original sources and novels from the time, and struggles to watch TV series set in the Victorian era because of historical inaccuracies.
She said: “I have to do all the editing and formatting for both the e-book and the physical book so it does take just over a year. I also look after my grandchildren and I am doing a lot of campaigning to stop Brexit.”
Carol does not yet know how many books she will write in the series. She said: “I’ve started a seventh but I didn’t even think the first one was going to see the light of day! So probably I’ll just keep going until I drop dead.”
Fear and Phantoms is available to buy on Amazon as a physical book and an e-book.
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