Published November 5th, 2026 by Viper
Historical Fiction, Historical Crime, Crime Fiction, Mystery
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
The hunt for an ancient king could prove deadly…
Leicestershire, 1774. Following a minor royal scandal, Susan Bell’s father has lost his post as Dean of Westminster, and the two find themselves exiled to the family’s country seat, Fortune Hall. Susan fills her days attempting to prevent her fiancé Lindley from being married off to a richer bride, while her father takes on the tutorship of Francis North, son of the Prime Minister.
When a visiting surveyor mysteriously disappears near a fast-flowing river, the man is presumed to have drowned. Susan alone is not convinced by this explanation, or by that of eccentric visiting librarian Mr Quintrel, who declares the surveyor likely lost in the tunnels that form the tomb of the mythical King Lear. But when the young Francis North also disappears, Susan knows that her family’s reputation is at stake and she must investigate. What did the surveyor stumble upon that someone would possibly kill to hide? And what darker secrets are waiting to be revealed?
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MY REVIEW:
Thank you Rachel May Quinn and Viper for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Leonora Nattrass lectured on the literature and politics of the 18th century for 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 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’s Old Peculier Crime Award. Her third, Scarlet Town, was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger.
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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx
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