The Durham Deception

📖 The Scoop

'Gooden may be the best history-mystery writer going.' Booklist

London 1874.

Newlyweds Tom and Helen Ansell attend a London seance at which Ernest Smight, a fraudulent medium, is unmasked. It's good preparation for a visit to the city of Durham, where Helen is tasked with rescuing her aunt Julia from the clutches of a much more dangerous psychic, Eustace Flask.

Meanwhile Tom, a lawyer, is despatched to learn the facts about the Lucknow Dagger, an ill-omened trophy in the possession of Major Sebastian Mormont, a military man turned magician who is staging shows in the cathedral city.

The realms of stage magic and spiritualism overlap when Flask is stabbed to death with the Dagger and Helen is accused of the crime. But which of Flask's many enemies is the real murderer? And who is systematically eliminating the witnesses to the earlier unmasking of medium Ernest Smight?

In their quest for the truth, Tom and Helen put themselves in danger. Before the end, Helen will come face to face with a ruthless and ingenious killer.

The Durham Deception plunges the reader into the strange world of Victorian mediums and con artists, magicians and showmen. A gripping follow-up to The Salisbury Manuscript.

Philip Gooden is a historical novelist and contributor to various short story anthologies. He is the author of the Geoffrey Chaucer Mysteries.

Praise for Philip Gooden:

'Full of the sights and sounds of fourteenth-century England--and pleasingly free of tedious exposition and clumps of research--this lively novel is a fine example of how to get it right in a historical mystery. Chaucer himself is a well-realized and charming protagonist, and the series seems to be settling in for a long run.' Booklist

'An absorbing mix of history, suspense and romance, this tale brings one of Britain's most renowned literary figures to credible life.' Publishers Weekly

Genre: Fiction / Historical / General (fancy, right?)