LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Inspired by the true story of a Cornish election in 1796 when, as the author shares in her introductory note, “Britain’s electoral arrangements were a shambles”, Leonora Nattrass’ Scarlet Town is a wildly entertaining murder mystery. Set in an age when estimates reckon a mere 5% of the population could vote, this dazzler reels with cut-throat corruption, ambition and suspicion, all wrapped up in a page-turner that evokes the rivalries between the blue silks of the Duke of Leeds and the scarlet red of their political opponents in vivid style.
The third novel in a sequence, Scarlet Town is thoroughly enjoyable in its own right, though I recommend going back to Back Drop and Blue Water to enjoy Laurence Jago’s earlier exploits. This third tale sees the disgraced former Foreign Office clerk and his journalist employer William Philpott in Laurence’s Cornish hometown.
Fresh from a locked room thriller aboard a transatlantic mail ship, the men's hopes for a period of recuperation are dashed when they find themselves thrust into a rowdy election. When one of two local men entitled to vote dies in decidedly suspicious circumstances, Laurence is asked to investigate. And then comes a second death…An absolute romp from start to finish, Scarlet Town is richly written, and entertaining with it.
Joanne Owen
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Scarlet Town Synopsis
1796. A rigged election. A town at war. A murderer at large...
Disgraced former Foreign Office clerk Laurence Jago and his larger-than-life employer the journalist William Philpott have escaped America - and Philpott's near imprisonment for libel - by the skin of their teeth. They return to Laurence's home town of Helston, Cornwall, in the hope of rest and recuperation, but instead find themselves in the middle of a tumultuous election that has the inhabitants of the town at one another's throats.
Only two men may vote in this rotten borough, and when one of them dies in suspicious circumstances, Laurence is ordered to investigate on behalf of the town's patron, his old master the Duke of Leeds. But it is no easy matter, thanks to the machinations of the rival political factions, not to mention the riotous performances of Toby the Sapient Hog.
Then the second elector is poisoned and suspicion turns on the town doctor, the gentle Pythagoras Jago, Laurence's own cousin. Suddenly Laurence finds himself ensnared in generations of bad blood and petty rivalries, with his cousin's fate in his hands...
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Press Reviews
Leonora Nattrass Press Reviews
This gets my vote! Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie in this cleverly plotted tale of courtship, poison, and electoral shenanigans. The characters and their dialogue, as ever with Leonora Nattrass, are wonderfully witty -- Robert J. Lloyd, author of THE BLOODLESS BOY
A brilliant addition to the Laurence Jago series, an election in an 18th Century Cornish town where only two people can vote and one of them dies... I loved it -- J.B. Mylet, author of THE HOMES
I so enjoyed the latest adventures of Laurence Jago in this captivating story of political intrigue, mystery and murder. Fast paced and full of unexpected twists and turns, I was thoroughly swept along with our seemingly hapless hero amidst the turmoil of election fever in Helston town. Nattrass expertly guides her readers through the shockingly undemocratic complexities of the rotten borough elections, whilst at the same time spinning a wonderful and compelling murder mystery -- Louise Fein, author of PEOPLE LIKE US
I can't get enough of Nattrass's Laurence Jago series, and Scarlet Town is another fantastic instalment! With a setting and characters that leap off the page, Scarlet Town is an immersive and delightful read that I absolutely whizzed through. A brilliantly entertaining historical crime caper - I loved it -- Philippa East, author of LITTLE WHITE LIES
An elegant, richly detailed, historical joy! Wonderful to be reunited with diffident 'hero' Laurence Jago, his green spectacles and his slyly amusing commentary -- Kate Griffin, author of FYNESHADE
A murderous delight of poisoning, fire, a rigged election and a psychic pig! It's a first rate murder mystery set in a brilliantly drawn historic setting -- Guy Morpuss, author of FIVE MINDS
Author
About Leonora Nattrass
Leonora Nattrass lectured on the literature and politics of the 18th century for almost ten years before running away to Cornwall, where she now lives in a seventeenth-century house with seventeenth-century draughts and knits the wool of her small flock of Ryeland sheep into elaborate jumpers. Her first novel Black Drop was a Times Book of the Year and her second Blue Water was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Find her on Twitter @LeonoraNattrass
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