The Blood: A gripping and darkly atmospheric thriller

Description

'Vivid, pungent and perilous' CHRIS BROOKMYRE 'Evocative...brilliant plotting' REBECCA GRIFFITHS An intricate and darkly atmospheric thriller set in Victorian London, perfect for readers of Elly Griffiths' The Stranger Diaries, Laura Purcell's The Silent Companions and Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Summoned to the riverside by the desperate, scribbled note of an old friend, Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain find themselves on board the seamen's floating hospital, an old hulk known only as The Blood, where prejudice, ambition and murder seethe beneath a veneer of medical respectability. On shore, a young woman, a known prostitute, is found drowned in a derelict boatyard. A man leaps to his death into the Thames, driven mad by poison and fear. The events are linked - but how? Courting danger in the opium dens and brothels of the waterfront, certain that the Blood lies at the heart of the puzzle, Jem and Will embark on a quest to uncover the truth. In a hunt that takes them from the dissecting tables of a private anatomy school to the squalor of the dock-side mortuary, they find themselves involved in a dark and terrible mystery. Praise for E.S. Thomson: 'It's rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones...' LAURA PURCELL 'Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable' DAILY EXPRESS 'Marvellous, vivid . . . breathtakingly dark' JANET ELLIS 'Jem Flockhart books are the best I've read in years' KIRSTY LOGAN 'A marvel . . . thoroughly engrossing' MARY PAULSON ELLIS

E. S. Thomson's work has been longlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger, and shortlisted for the Saltire Prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the William McIlvanney Crime Book of the Year Award. She has a PhD in the social history of medicine, and tries to fit as much medical history into her books as possible. She works as a university lecturer by day, and writes by night. Elaine lives in Edinburgh with her two sons.

Dark and vividly imagined, this Jem Flockhart mystery captures the squalor of Victorian London as it tells an engrossing story of medical misdeeds - Choice Magazine Here's a tale of Victorian London to freeze your blood on a cold winter's night - Evening Telegraph on Beloved Poison It's rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones, the crumbling hospital . . . Love evocative descriptions of Victorian London and brilliant plotting? Then grab a copy of this! - Rebecca Griffiths, author of The Primrose Path Beloved Poison is a marvellous, vivid book with a thoughtful, engaging protagonist at its centre - and a fascinating story to tell. It's immaculately researched and breathtakingly dark. Elaine Thomson's descriptive powers are so great that that I was surprised to see twenty-first century London rather than grimy, smelly St Saviour's around me when I - eventually - looked up from its pages Following on from the events of acclaimed debut Beloved Poison, Dark Asylum vividly portrays the Gothic horror and questionable science of Victorian mental asylums in chilling detail. Meticulously researched and masterfully plotted, E.S. Thomson has written a complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable tale - Daily Express Dark Asylum positively oozes gothic menace, and the author's evocation of the city at that time is visceral and engagingly morbid . . . A first class piece of historical crime writing - Big Issue You can almost feel the evil miasma rising from the page - Kirkus Reviews on Beloved Poison