The new historical mystery series you need to get your hands on! Perfect for fans of Andrew Taylor, C J Sansom, S J Parris and Ken Follett.
Three missing girls. Only one body. Where are the others?
1671, Delft
Three young girls have been abducted from their homes.
The body of one has been found in a shallow grave. The other two are still missing.
The murder has shocked everyone is the … missing.
The murder has shocked everyone is the peaceful city of Delft and the mayor is desperate to catch the perpetrator before panic can spread any further.
With the bitterly cold January weather intensifying it is doubtful that the other two girls are still alive.
But whoever took them is still at large.
The mayor requests the help of Master Mercurius, a gifted cleric from a nearby university, and local artist Vermeer, who uses his skills to sketch the crime scenes.
Can they find the missing girls before it’s too late? Will Mercurius be able to track down the killer?
Or will more victims succumb to Death in Delft…?
Death in Delft is the first historical murder investigation in the Master Mercurius Mystery series: atmospheric crime thrillers set in seventeenth-century Europe.
THE MASTER MERCURIUS MYSTERY SERIES:
BOOK ONE: Death in Delft
BOOK TWO: Untrue Till Death
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The story is set in the beautiful city of Delft during the Golden Age of the Netherlands . Three eight year old girls are missing. One of them is found buried in a field just outside the city. The city council of Delft asks Master Mercurius of the University of Leiden to assist them in recovering the girls and solving this crime.
Mercurius is a far from perfect character. For one thing ,he is a protestant minister and an ordained catholic priest which is not always an easy marriage in the 17th century low countries. But he is very likeable, intelligent and disarmingly naive. He also meets some very interesting people among which Johannes Vermeer,the painter,and Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek,the founder of modern microbiology. And there is the city of Delft in the background of course.
You know with some books that as soon as you start reading them that they are going to be alright (or more than alright). Historical mystery fiction is not always a perfect blend between the different parts. Sometimes there is not enough historical data,sometimes there is just too much and the mystery story just disappears in a swamp (or in this case perhaps a canal) of titbits and not relevant facts. But here it really ticked off and all the boxes.
The setting,in the dead of winter,was both enchanting and a bit eerie.
Sometimes it felt as if I was walking through one of Vermeer’s paintings. The slippery cobblestones,the dykes,the wind mills and the endless sky hovering over the frost covered fields.
Perhaps one little remark,nothing to do with the quality of the story,but the frozen fields,icy sleet and biting wind makes this a perfect read for the winter.