To solve a baffling murder – search both sides of the grave...
The Crooked Medium’s
Guide To Murder
by Stephen Cox
Genre: Spooky Paranormal Victorian Murder Mystery
London 1881. Can
two
crooked women stop a murder?
Extravagant medium
Mrs Ashton and her lover,
blunt working-class Mrs Bradshaw, run a spiritualist scam. Mrs Ashton secretly
reads minds.
Believing that Mrs
Ashton is genuine,
grieving Lady Violet craves the truth behind her mother’s untimely death. But
Lady Violet’s powerful husband Sir Charles hates spiritualists. Has he killed
before?
Uncovering this MP’s
wicked crimes will put
all three women in terrible danger...
To solve a
shocking
murder, look on both sides of the grave.
"An astonishing feat of twisting plots and
perceptions"
“It's deliciously twisty, with women who
won't be told, a young bride
in peril, and the delicate art of a con.”
“A book I've been looking for all my life.
Queer found family all
wrapped up in a supernatural murder mystery. Absolute perfection.”
“a brilliant, gripping story. .. if you're
looking for a great new book
to read, I encourage you to check it out.”
"...an actually intriguing mystery.”
“with a new murder thrown in and a couple
of pre-existing ones
uncovered, we get an astonishing story of redemption with well-plotted but
never signposted twists and turns thrown in at every stage.”
“...a murder mystery with a supernatural
spin. ... the premise and plot
were great. The story is very atmospheric with a very nasty aristocrat villain.
..an entertaining read..."
**Only
.99cents!**
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Stephen Cox is a writer
living in London.
He’d read every Holmes, Christie, and Sayers before he was 21 and did Holmes
fanfic in school. He has also read the Moonstone six times. With a science
degree he has always been a fan of history and the imagination.
The Crooked Medium’s
Guide to Murder
contains the strong characterisation, women protagonists, authentic period
setting, and wide roaming imagination of his other works.
He says ‘It’s a rip-
roaring twisty story,
with relationships under stress and surprising readers at every turn.”
His first two novels,
Our Child of the Stars
and Our Child of Two Worlds were called “heartfelt, imaginative and gripping”,
with wide praise in the national press.
Stephen says ‘I wanted
female rogues as my
leads – people who lead a crooked life, who need to keep secrets, yet can be
kind and generous too. This is a rigorous detective story with a client in
trouble and old crimes to be solved. It has everything – a brutal man, a Lady
in danger, and the past and present feeding the action. Can these outsiders
possibly win? Queer women certainly existed and made lives together in
Victorian England, as those with eyes to see can see,’
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Goodreads
GUEST POST
Ten reasons to read the Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder - Stephen Cox
This has appeared on my website recently but didn’t get much traffic.
Murders! Mrs Ashton is asked to investigate, in spiritual terms, whether Lady Violet’s mother committed suicide. Mrs Ashton soon realises there are other untoward deaths to explain.
“This is true historical fiction, where the Victorian setting is more than just set-dressing; it permeates the very fabric of the story and the wry, understated character voice.” Eris Young.
Lady Violet’s husband, Sir Charles – an MP – friend of the Home Secretary, a rising star. Vigorous, progressive, a handsome, wealthy brute, with a vicious temper. Lady Violet is terrified, though he has never yet struck her. And he hates mediums.
The notorious Mrs Ashton – grandstanding medium, a fraud, a thief and a loss to the stage. Hated by the press, extravagant and flamboyant, preachy and selfish, a social climber. She gives to the poor but won’t pay her bills.
Mrs Ashton is entranced by Violet’s plight, her beauty, and especially, her independent income.
An older, sapphic couple making their way in a man’s world. Mrs Ashton’s love is Braddie, a blunt Northerner posing as her servant – sceptical, aging, and keen they retire to the country. “Dragging us all into danger, mark my words!”
Older detectives need a young runner. Slum-lass Maisie, not yet fourteen; a quarter Indian, a drunken docker father, and two younger siblings to feed. She writes her own future, a lady detective like the great Kate Warne in America.
And tough, incorruptible Chief Inspector Bullfinch, a trusted senior detective called in on a sensitive mission. Bullfinch loathes Mrs Ashton, who once humiliated him over some stolen emeralds.
Stephen Cox’s previous novels, Our Child of the Stars and Our Child of Two Worlds – dazzled readers. “Heartfelt, imaginative and gripping.”
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