The first three volumes of the acclaimed Northminster Mysteries.“I will be very sad when these novels come to an end. I love everything about them. Everything! They are just that good.” Amazon reviewer“Add together an atypical historical setting that gives the author scope for solving mysteries in unusual ways, compelling characters with fascinating back stories, and excellent plotting with a … with a depth that promises equally intriguing stories to come, and what you have is a first book of a series that promises to offer many hours of reading pleasure.” Amazon reviewer
Northminster, 1840: a once-picturesque cathedral city, where dirty smoke stacks now rival ancient spires. Here, young Scottish surgeon Felix Carswell and Chief Constable Major Giles Vernon are tasked to uncover the truth in three complex tales of murder and detection set in Early Victorian England.
The Butchered Man
When workmen make the shocking discovery of a mutilated corpse in a ditch outside the ancient walls, Giles Vernon and Felix Carswell are charged with solving the case.
Intelligent and practical, Chief Constable Major Vernon has transformed the old city watch into a modern police force, and he throws himself into the investigation with the same energy. But as he probes a murky world of professional gamblers and jilted lovers, he is drawn into a dangerous emotional game that threatens to undermine his authority.
Newly-qualified police surgeon Felix Carswell is determined to make his way in the world on his own terms despite being the bastard son of prominent local grandee Lord Rothborough. Called to treat a girl in an asylum for reformed prostitutes, what he uncovers there brings him into conflict with his new employer, Vernon, and throws the case into disarray.
Together they must overcome their differences and find the brutal truth behind the mystery of The Butchered Man.
The Dead Songbird
“Death is too good for a whore like you. But He may show you mercy yet. BE PREPARED”
Celebrated singer Anna Morgan has come to Northminster to escape a troubled past and sing at the city’s Handel Festival. But when she continues to receive the poisonous letters that have been plaguing her, she turns to Chief Constable Major Giles Vernon and Police Surgeon Felix Carswell to find her persecutor, drawing the two men into her charismatic orbit.
At the same time a talented young tenor is found dead in curious circumstances in a locked chapel, and the hunt for a murderer is on. Together, Vernon and Carswell must untangle the web of secrets that surround the dead man, uncovering a Northminster that throbs with clandestine passions and thwarted desires, a world of illegal pornographic books and risqué theatricals.
The Shadowcutter
Police surgeon Felix Carswell has joined Major Giles Vernon and his convalescent wife, Laura, for a few days in the elegant spa town of Stanegate – it’s a welcome holiday from the summer stench of Northminster. But no sooner has he arrived than a Spanish colonial gentleman, dying of consumption, requires his urgent care, while Major Vernon is called away to Lord Rothborough’s country house, where a lady’s maid has been found drowned in a secluded pool.
Major Vernon investigates above and below stairs in the great house, assisted by Lord Rothborough’s eldest daughter, Lady Charlotte. When a quantity of valuable jewellery is found missing, the cause of the dead maid’s death only becomes more mysterious.
Meanwhile, when his patient dies in his arms after confiding a secret, Carswell is drawn into baffling intrigues involving the government-in-exile of the dead man’s homeland, the Caribbean island of Santa Magdalena. And strangest of all, Dona Blanca, the widow of the president, seems to know exactly who Felix is.
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I really enjoyed the first part of this book, but was very, very disappointed when the “f” word cropped up. And very early. That’s the kiss of death for me and I won’t be finishing it nor reading any more of Ms Smart’s creations.
Great cast of characters with all the appropriate strengths and foibles. Excellent mystery in each book; those kinds of mysteries that are elusive and not instantly solved but with great clues along the way!
page turner–looking to read more in this series. I did get lost occasionally and had to reread in order to see who was doing what
a series of 3 books that progress in the 1800’s and characters that travel throughout. . Each character develops with each book and as they work together or separately they are entertaining.
Excellent stories!!!
Overall excellence. Heaven help you if you lived in that era and were the least bit sick. Medicine was barbaric.
loved this series
I loved this series, great characters and engaging mysteries.
Historical fiction that takes you back to a pre-CSI age of detection. The purpose of each story is not just to solve a crime, but also to develop real characters that you really grow to care for and root for. Each story seems to present several crimes and/or situations that ultimately overlap in some way. It is great to have a 3 book set, because you want to continue reading and don’t have to wait a year for the next book to come out.
I never wanted this series to end. I just could have kept going with the characters lives and dramas. It was well written, the characters well portrayed, and the story line believeable.
Great development of the characters in a historical novel. I have already purchased the next book in this series.
Wonderful
These were so compelling that I purchased the rest to read.
3 wonderful whodoneits.
The first story was the best for me but all 3 of them were interesting. You wont be disappointed. Way over use of the F word.
I love the characters, Felix, Giles (Major Vernon), the writing is fun and it grabs you and keeps you.
Good plots, lots of options as to who is the culprit, interesting characters.
Great book set in early England. Policeman and a surgeon solve all the crimes, good reading.
Loved how the author captured the characters, societal mores, and lives of the pre-Victorian years. Great stories and great characters.
Books are too confusing to follow. A lot of British references I didn’t get. Couldn’t finish the anthology.