A gothic tale of murder and corruption set in 1840s Victorian London,
taking inspiration from our most famous 19th century writers.
History, Politics and class collide in this suspenseful crime novel,
following the death of a railway baron and the impact it has on the
suffocated community.
Railway Baron, Sir Martin Malprelate of the 1840s, has been laying waste
to the warren of Camden; buying up houses and clearing streets for his
new railway line linking King's Cross with the prosperous town of
Middlemarch. He stands to make his fortune ever more vast and to earn
the loathing of all who attempt to stand up to him.
Little wonder, then, that he meets a violent end on a foggy street after
walking out of a particularly bitter meeting with outraged residents
facing eviction. But the cause of his death causes more wonder. How
could he have possibly fallen beneath the wells of a speeding spectral
train running on tracks not yet even built?
Sir Martin's death is investigated by the police, but the company employ
one of its senior engineers, Mr Bryde, to pursue his own investigation.
Bryde uncovers a network of resentment and conspiracy, agitating
workers, scheming shareholders, corrupt politicians and a gallery of
varied and grotesque characters - all of whom had some stake in the old
man's death.
Lacing it's realism with both social commentary and the gothic
imaginations of the time The Death of Sir Martin Malprelate is a vivid
recreation of a London stalked by poverty and haunted by visions of
demons and ghosts; a world of slums, lavish wealth and opium dens.
