AN EVOCATIVE VICTORIAN DETECTIVE MYSTERY FULL OF CLEVER TWISTS

Mathon Churchyard, March 1891.

The Cleaves family gather in a small country churchyard for their son’s funeral. But they don’t recognise the dead man in the coffin.

WHO IS HE? AND WHERE’S THEIR SON?

Detective Inspector Ravenscroft is alarmed by the behaviour of the Upton Undertakers. What are they hiding? And who killed this man?

Then another member of the Cleaves family is found dead. Ravenscroft begins to suspect something grisly is afoot — could someone be involved in body snatching?

CAN THEY SOLVE THIS PUZZLING MYSTERY BEFORE ANYONE ELSE GETS HURT?

Perfect for fans of M.R.C. Kasasian, E.S. Thomson, Oscar de Muriel or Karen Charlton.

MEET THE DETECTIVE

Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft, unmarried and over forty, is a detective in the Whitechapel branch of the Metropolitan Police. Painfully asthmatic, he is overlooked by his superiors in favour of his pushier colleagues. But Ravenscroft wants to prove himself and strives to overcome his physical limitations. His tools are forthright questioning, close examination of the evidence and personal intuition. He often finds that the solutions to crimes are buried deep in the past.

With his trusty Bradshaw, Ravenscroft and his colleague Constable Tom Crabb, travel around the Three Counties, overlooked by the Malvern Hills, bringing criminals to justice.

KERRY TOMBS was born near Birmingham, but grew up in various locations in north Worcestershire. After a career teaching in both England and Australia, he moved to Malvern in 1982, where he became a local genealogist, lecturer and bookseller.