Mortmain Hall - Martin Edwards ****
By Brian Clegg
After the dramatic introduction of central characters Rachel Savernake and Jacob Flint in Gallows Court, Martin Edwards had a lot to live up to. He almost achieves it. This is an excellent murder mystery with the dramatic threat to life of its predecessor, but because Rachel Savernake’s past is no longer a mystery, it doesn’t quite reach the same level of twistyness.
Nonetheless, Edwards conjures up a complex plot in the 1930-set novel, with a sleazy nightclub, the London Necropolis Railway, and deaths galore, including a lion attack. There seems to be a linking thread between cases where people have been acquitted for murder, which is finally tied up at the remote Yorkshire clifftop mansion of the title.
One of Edwards’ strengths is bringing in aspects of the time that are genuine, but seem strange or remote. For example the Necropolis Railway was a real thing with an ornate London station to take coffins and accompanying mourners to the massive Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, as London’s graveyards were getting full.
Despite lacking the sense of mystery about Rachel (the big twist in her life story from the previous novel is only indirectly referenced), her character continues to have the semi-detached oddity that made her so unusual in the first book, while Jacob’s life is once more in distinct danger as he attempts to investigate. Arguably the plot is far-fetched – but given the period setting, somehow it seems entirely reasonable. An excellent addition to the series (at the time of writing there are five books).
You can buy Mortmain Hall from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com (audiobook) and Bookshop.org
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Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.
Source: http://brianclegg.blogspot.com/2026/01/mortmain-hall-martin-edwards.html
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