Death in St James's Palace

📖 The Scoop

1761, London.

After years of service, the famous magistrate John Fielding - known as the Blind Beak - is to receive a knighthood.

At the Palace, the invited audience eagerly crane for a first glimpse of the new queen - widely rumoured to be the ugliest the country has ever seen.

With his wife ill and unable to accompany him to the investiture, Apothecary John Rawlings steps in to attend with Fielding.

But he soon finds himself embroiled in a puzzling mystery.

Nobleman George Goward tumbles down the palace's great staircase to his death.

There are no witnesses save one: Sir John Fielding, whose senses, save sight, are renowned.

A whispered sentence, an exhalation of breath - these are the only clues to suggest Goward did not fall, but was pushed.

But by whom?

Rawlings offers his investigative skills - though his wife, Emilia, is expecting their first baby - and finds himself with no shortage of suspects...

Yet at the core of the mystery lies something more.

And the more he digs, the more he realises that the children are the key to unlocking the puzzle of the Death at St James's Palace...

Deryn Lake is the author of the John Rawlings Mysteries, Nick Lawrence novels, and a number of historical fiction and historical romances. She was born in Essex and began writing at an early age, before eventually turning her hand to writing novels as a profession. She currently resides in Sussex. Death at St James's Palace is the eighth in the John Rawlings series.

Praise for Deryn Lake:

'John Rawlings and the Blind Beak are developing into my favourite historical mystery heroes' Lindsey Davis 'Meticulously researched, this is a series that brings the past to colourful life' Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian

'Lake brings eighteenth century England to life in a fine colourful style... Georgette Heyer...but with the knickers off' Yorkshire Post

'The Queen of the Georgian historical mystery' The Times

'A winning Georgian historical' Publishers Weekly

'A masterly Georgian historical with a keen sense of time and place, fully fledged characters, and comfortable prose. Strongly recommended' Library Journal

'Told with an infectious enthusiasm and a sly wit, Lake vivifies the period through her portrayal of the courtly, ever-witty John Rawlings' Booklist

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