Mad Hatter Summer

The man the world knew as Lewis Carroll, author of the adventures of Alice, was known to his colleagues in the Christ Church Common Room as the Reverend C. L. Dodgson, a middle-aged Oxford don. His hobby was photography, especially of pubescent girls ''in their favourite dress of nothing to wear''.

When evidence of the Reverend''s pastime falls into the hands of Charles Augustus Howell, the infamous Victorian blackmailer, and a murder victim is fished out of the Isis, Inspector Swain is called to investigate the case that casts the shadow of doom over Dodgson.

''One of the most entertaining mysteries of the year'' Julian Symons

''Catches the authentic whiff of steaming sexuality behind the Victorian whiskers'' Guardian