The year is 1855. The Crimean war is raging. The British government has fallen. The Empire itself hangs in the balance.
And then the murders start…
Someone is targeting members of London’s elite – leaving with each corpse the names of men who failed to assassinate Queen Victoria. It’s clear that Victoria will be the ultimate victim. As the notorious Opium-Eater Thomas De Quincey and his daughter Emily race to save her, they uncover the heart-breaking past of a man whose lust for revenge has destroyed his soul.
Based on actual attempts to assassinate the queen, Inspector of the Dead brilliantly merges fact with fiction, bringing a bloody chapter of Victorian England to vivid, pulse-pounding life.
And then the murders start…
Someone is targeting members of London’s elite – leaving with each corpse the names of men who failed to assassinate Queen Victoria. It’s clear that Victoria will be the ultimate victim. As the notorious Opium-Eater Thomas De Quincey and his daughter Emily race to save her, they uncover the heart-breaking past of a man whose lust for revenge has destroyed his soul.
Based on actual attempts to assassinate the queen, Inspector of the Dead brilliantly merges fact with fiction, bringing a bloody chapter of Victorian England to vivid, pulse-pounding life.
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Reviews
Praise for David Morrell
The finest thriller writer living today, bar none.
A master of suspense....If you're reading Morrell, you're sitting on the edge of your seat.
An absolute master of the thriller
Nobody does this better than David Morrell
A titan among thriller writers.
The father of the modern action novel
Master storyteller David Morrell . . . thrills us with heart-pounding suspense while tugging at our emotions.
A terrific read. As one would expect of Morrell, it is compulsive and thrilling, but its use of de Quincey also allows for discursions that are both funny and touching - de Quincey and his daughter are great additions to the detective stage, and I hope we will have a lot more of them to come.
David Morrell fans - and they are Legion - can look forward to celebrating Murder As a Fine Art as one of their favorite author's strongest and boldest books in years.
[An] exceptional historical mystery...page-flipping action, taut atmosphere, and multifaceted characters
Shockingly real...Morrell's thorough and erudite research of the people and culture of the British Empire's heyday informs every page. A literary thriller that pushes the envelope of fear
Masterful...brilliantly plotted....evokes 1854 London with such finesse that you'll hear the hooves clattering on cobblestones
Brilliant. Everything works - the horrifying depiction of the murders, the asides explaining the impact of train travel on English society, nail-biting action sequences - making this book an epitome of the intelligent page-turner.
A gaslit gallop through Victorian London
Riveting! With this mesmerizing series, David Morrell doesn't just delve into the world of Victorian England - he delves into the heart of evil, pitting one man's opium-skewed brilliance against a society where appearances are everything...and the most vicious killers lurk closer than anyone thinks.
Morrell expertly captures in prose the economic and political divisions of Victorian society, but he leavens his social commentary with moments of high adventure.
A feat of brilliant storytelling
Murder as a Fine Art was fantastic, and Inspector of the Dead is even better...Morrell is darkly inventive with the murders and cleverly mines very real history...The author brings each character back to life, and they spring fully formed from the page...I dare you to put this down once you've picked it up!
