"Set in 1796, this rollicking murder mystery reels with political corruption, dark humour and big turmoil in a small town."
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.
| Primary Genre | Political / Legal Thrillers |
| Other Genres: |
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...
Scarlet Town features in the following genres: Political / Legal Thrillers, Crime and Mystery, Thriller and Suspense, Historical crime and mysteries, Fiction
Scarlet Town is available in Paperback, Hardback
Scarlet Town was written by Leonora Nattrass and published by Viper an imprint of Profile Books Ltd
Scarlet Town has 314 pages
Yes it is part of Laurence Jago series
£15.29
