The Devil in the Marshalsea: Thomas Hawkins Book 1

Hodgson, Antonia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 144477543X ISBN 13: 9781444775433

Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks, 2014

WINNER OF THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD 2014.

Longlisted for the John Creasey Dagger Award for best debut crime novel of 2014.

London, 1727 - and Tom Hawkins is about to fall from his heaven of card games, brothels and coffee-houses into the hell of a debtors' prison.

The Marshalsea is a savage world of its own, with simple rules: those with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease. And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of the gaol's rutheless governor and his cronies.

The trouble is, Tom Hawkins has never been good at following rules - even simple ones. And the recent grisly murder of a debtor, Captain Roberts, has brought further terror to the gaol. While the Captain's beautiful widow cries for justice, the finger of suspicion points only one way: to the sly, enigmatic figure of Samuel Fleet.

Some call Fleet a devil, a man to avoid at all costs. But Tom Hawkins is sharing his cell. Soon, Tom's choice is clear: get to the truth of the murder - or be the next to die.

A twisting mystery, a dazzling evocation of early 18th Century London, THE DEVIL IN THE MARSHALSEA is a thrilling debut novel full of intrigue and suspense.

Review:

A splendid debut ... this is a truly spellbinding tale. (Guardian)

Hodgson's utterly compelling debut is fiendishly plotted and dripping with atmosphere. I cannot wait for Tom Hawkin's next adventure. (Mark Billingham)

It is the mesh of lies and duplicity that draws you into this brilliant first novel ...a blood-drenched investigation that twists and turns in the vortex of Georgian society (The Times)

Historical fiction just doesn't get any better than this. Magnificent! (Jeffery Deaver)

The pace is relentless ...an absolutely superb debut novel (Crime Review)

Book Description:

A murderer on the loose . . . in prison.