Oliver Twist and the Mystery of Throate Manor

"For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens alike ... Enjoyable Victorian crime." Thomas Waugh A thrilling 'Dickensian Whodunit' in which Oliver Twist, now a young man and a lawyer, assisted by his clerk Jack Dawkins (the Artful Dodger) tries to solve a series of brutal murders. POliver Twist is a young man in his late twenties and employed as a solicitor. He has taken his old associate Jack Dawkins, aka the Artful Dodger, on as his clerk in attempt to civilise him and keep him out of trouble. Together they become embroiled in a dark and dangerous murder mystery. Throate Manor is the ancestral home of the Throate Family in Surrey. The latest incumbent of the line, the aged Sir Ebenezer, trapped in a loveless marriage to Lady Amelia, is being terrified by a night visitor, a sheeted apparition who appears in his bedroom, and warns him to remember his son. This does not refer to his legitimate offspring Jeremiah Throate, a reckless gambler and libertine, who is deeply in debt to Eugene Trench, a sinister figure in the Victorian underworld. The son to whom the apparition refers is an illegitimate child Sir Ebenezer fathered with a maidservant some twenty five years previously. Fear mixed with guilt prompts Sir Ebenezer to try and locate the son he has never known. He plans to alter his will to favour him. He contacts his solicitors, the firm of Gripewind and Biddle, for this purpose and they despatch Oliver Twist and Jack Dawkins to Throate Manor to attend to this business. Sir Ebenezer charges Oliver with the task of finding his lost son. The task is a perilous one leading to violence and murder before shocking revelations threaten to destroy them all. Bestselling crime author David Stuart Davies delivers a unique Victorian set mystery, reimagining some of Charles Dickens best loved characters in new and thrilling roles. Author David Stuart Davies is also a film historian and expert on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. He is a member of the national committee of the Crime Writers’ Association and has edited Red Herrings, their monthly publication, since 1999. He is also the author of Spiral of Lies, a Johnny Hawke thriller and The Scarlet Coven, a Simon Finch crime thriller. Praise for David Stuart ‘Dark but very compelling. David Stuart Davies knows how to write and how to twist the knife inside the reader’s mind.’ Peter James ‘A neatly crafted crime novel offering an unusual perspective on London, by turns dark and poignant.’ Andrew Taylor ‘A strong story immaculately told. What a rare pleasure it is to discover a book that you can truly call a thriller. Wartime London is beautifully evoked in a plot as crafty as the black market.’ Peter Lovesey 'Wartime London makes a great setting for crime fiction and Davies uses it shrewdly. Johnny Hawke is a keeper.’ Booklist