Variety Palace Mysteries – serie

WINNER OF THE HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA JOHN CREASEY DAGGER AWARD

'Delicious dark and compelling' Essie Fox, author of The Fascination

'A wry, warm and proper rib-tickling slice of dirty Victorian gothic' Julia Crouch, author of The Daughters

'Neatly weds historical detail and quiet wit' Sunday Times

1876, Victorian London.

The feisty Minnie Ward is scraping a living as a scriptwriter for the Variety Palace Music Hall when the body of her best friend is found in a dingy riverside archway. Minnie is convinced she was murdered and teams up with dashing private detective Albert Easterbrook to find justice.

Together they navigate the streets of London, from high-class gentlemen's clubs to shady drinking dens. But as the bodies pile up, they must rely on one another if they're going to track down the killer-and make it out alive . . .

The thrilling sequel to the prize-winning historical murder mystery, The Tumbling Girl

'Historical crime fiction at its most beguiling' Financial Times

'Rich with theatrical detail and brimming with brilliant characters, this is a series not to be missed' S.J. Bennett, author of Murder Most Royal

'Victorian crime at its grittiest, most exciting best' Essie Fox

Still reeling from the gruesome murders of the previous year, Minnie Ward is appointed manager of the Variety Palace. Times are hard, with performers shunning the 'cursed' music hall, and Minnie's relationship with detective Albert Easterbrook is more complicated than ever.

But when another killer begins to terrorise the city's streets, Minnie and Albert are thrown together once more. The crimes seem connected to a notorious tragedy that left nearly two hundred dead-and with so many lives affected by the incident, practically everyone is a suspect...

'A witty addition to Bridget Walsh's Variety Palace Mysteries' - Sunday Times

'My favourite detective double-act' Emma Styles, author of No Country For Girls

'Wonderful. A supremely atmospheric historical mystery, both haunting and relentlessly entertaining' Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror

'An excellent addition to the Variety Palace Mysteries' Sheila O'Flanagan, author of What Eden Did Next

Tragedy strikes Minnie Ward's beloved Variety Palace Theatre when a man is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Along with private detective Albert Easterbrook, she investigates. The trail leads them from the streets of London to a grand country house in the Suffolk countryside, home of the shadowy Spirit Sisterhood, who promise their clients an audience with the deceased.

Minnie isn't buying it. She goes undercover within the Sisterhood and enters an eerie world of seances and mediums. But unravelling their secrets will bring Minnie face-to-face with ghosts from her own past. Can she get to the truth before the murderer kills again?

Readers LOVE The Spirit Guide

'Exciting, well-paced, with fun twists and turns' Roxana, Reviewer 5 stars

'Bridget Walsh has a gift for blending suspense with rich historical detail. I was hooked from the very first page and couldn't put it down' Zelda, Reviewer 5 stars

'This is the third book in this series [and] I think it might be the best..." - Deborah, Bookseller 5 stars