Palace of Shadows

Set in the late 19th century, [Ray Celestin] takes the true story of American weapons heiress Sarah Winchesters San Jose mansion and transports it to Yorkshire, with chillingly gothic results * The Guardian * A beguiling standalone historical thriller . . . Its jaw-dropping finale will leave readers reeling. An absolute triumph * Sunday Express * I loved Palace of Shadows . . . set on the Yorkshire moors in the late 19th century. Based on a true story, a labyrinth of timelines populated by vividly written characters offers a darkly entertaining plot -- Laura Shepherd-Robinson, bestselling author of <i>The Square of Sevens</i> I could see elements of Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker and even Lewis Carroll in this gloriously bonkers novel . . . a hugely entertaining slice of Gothic fantasy -- Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of <i>The Shadows of London</i> Palace of Shadows moves exhilaratingly into Gothic territory * Financial Times * Beautifully crafted and delightfully creepy * The Bookseller * A piercing and wholly captivating historical novel that creates the most sinister and atmospheric of gothic tones . . . The foreboding descent into [the houses] depths are chilling, and yet oh-so addictive . . . Beautifully atmospheric and absolutely convincing * LoveReading * Palace of Shadows is as authentically detailed as Dickens, sophisticatedly horrific as Poe, and is more than enough to give readers the chills on dark autumn nights * Buzz Magazine * Welcome the darker months in with this deeply unsettling gothic tale * Sainsbury's Magazine *

Ray Celestin is the author of the prize-winning City Blues Quartet, a series of novels which charts the twin histories of jazz and the Mob through the middle fifty years of the twentieth century. The first novel in the series, The Axeman's Jazz, won the CWA New Blood Dagger for best debut crime novel of the year, and was featured on numerous Books of the Year lists. The second and third books in the series, Dead Mans Blues and The Mobster's Lament, were shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and the Capital Crime Novel of the Year respectively. The final novel in the series, Sunset Swing, won both the CWA Historical Dagger and the Gold Dagger 2022 and was described in the Sunday Telegraph as the conclusion to one of the finest achievements of recent crime fiction. Palace of Shadows is his fifth novel.