Charles Maddox Series by Lynn Shepherd

"Nobody, I believe, has ever found it possible to like the heroine of Mansfield Park ." --Lionel Trilling In this ingenious new twist on Mansfield Park , the famously meek Fanny Price--whom Jane Austen's own mother called "insipid"--has been utterly transformed; she is now a rich heiress who is spoiled, condescending, and generally hated throughout the county... more"Nobody, I believe, has ever found it possible to like the heroine of Mansfield Park ." --Lionel Trilling In this ingenious new twist on Mansfield Park , the famously meek Fanny Price--whom Jane Austen's own mother called "insipid"--has been utterly transformed; she is now a rich heiress who is spoiled, condescending, and generally hated throughout the county. Mary Crawford, on the other hand, is now as good as Fanny is bad, and suffers great indignities at the hands of her vindictive neighbor. It's only after Fanny is murdered on the grounds of Mansfield Park that Mary comes into her own, teaming-up with a thief-taker from London to solve the crime. Featuring genuine Austen characters--the same characters, and the same episodes, but each with a new twist--MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK is a brilliantly entertaining novel that offers Jane Austen fans an engaging new heroine and story to read again and again. less

Lynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense, Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the time of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.London, 1850. Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he works alone, struggling to eke out a living by tracking down criminals... moreLynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense, Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the time of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.London, 1850. Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he works alone, struggling to eke out a living by tracking down criminals. Whenever he needs it, he has the help of his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary “thief taker,” a detective as brilliant and intuitive as they come.On Charles’s latest case, he’ll need all the assistance he can get. To his shock, Charles has been approached by Edward Tulkinghorn, the shadowy and feared attorney, who offers him a handsome price to do some sleuthing for a client. Powerful financier Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and Tulkinghorn wants Charles to—discreetly—find and stop whoever is responsible.But what starts as a simple, open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with an unspeakable truth, Charles can only be aided so far by Maddox. The old man shows signs of forgetfulness and anger, symptoms of an age-related ailment that has yet to be named.Intricately plotted and intellectually ambitious, The Solitary House is an ingenious novel that does more than spin an enthralling tale: it plumbs the mysteries of the human mind. less

A mystery that explores the dark lives and unexplained secrets of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein... moreA mystery that explores the dark lives and unexplained secrets of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet’s literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.As he’s drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years.The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone’s, Lynn Shepherd offers her own fictional version of that story, which suggests new and shocking answers to mysteries that still persist to this day, and have never yet been fully explained. less

In a dazzling mystery inspired by Bram Stoker's much-beloved Dracula, the critically acclaimed author of The Solitary House and A Fatal Likeness, Lynn Shepherd-and her brilliant Victorian detective Charles Maddox-return in their biggest, most challenging literary suspense novel yet.Clever, eerie and compelling by turns, The Pierced Heart finds detective Charles Maddox traveling to the remote castle of the enigmatic Baron Von Reisenberg, a pioneering scientist with a terrible secret... moreIn a dazzling mystery inspired by Bram Stoker's much-beloved Dracula, the critically acclaimed author of The Solitary House and A Fatal Likeness, Lynn Shepherd-and her brilliant Victorian detective Charles Maddox-return in their biggest, most challenging literary suspense novel yet.Clever, eerie and compelling by turns, The Pierced Heart finds detective Charles Maddox traveling to the remote castle of the enigmatic Baron Von Reisenberg, a pioneering scientist with a terrible secret. Meanwhile, London is in the throes of a series of brutal murders, executed by a mysterious killer known only as "The Vampire." What is the connection between the Baron and the murders? And what does the journal of a young theater assistant named Lucy have to do with it all? Maddox must find out. Drawing inspiration from both Dracula and from the strange life of a mysterious and long-forgotten real-life scientist, The Pierced Heart dramatizes a fatal clash between science and superstition, at a time of profound change and dangerous transition, and once again spins a gorgeously atmospheric literary suspense story from one of the world's most beloved novels. less