Devoured - Hardcover

Meredith, D. E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031255768X ISBN 13: 9780312557683

Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL, 2010

Synopsis

One of London's first forensic detectives chases a grisly killer in this stunning debut mystery rich in period detail and sinister intrigue.

London in 1856 is gripped by a frightening obsession. The specimen-collecting craze is growing, and discoveries in far-off jungles are reshaping the known world in terrible and unimaginable ways. The new theories of evolution threaten to disrupt the fragile balance of power that keeps the chaotic city in order—a disruption that many would do just about anything to prevent.

When the glamorous Lady Bessingham is found murdered in her bedroom, surrounded by her vast collection of fossils and tribal masks, Adolphus Hatton and his morgue assistant Albert Roumande are called in to examine the crime scene—and the body. In the new and suspicious world of forensics and autopsy examinations, Hatton and Roumande are the best. But the crime scene is not confined to one room. In their efforts to help Scotland Yard's infamous Inspector Adams track down the Lady's killer, Hatton and Roumande uncover a trail of murders all connected to a packet of seditious letters that, if published, would change the face of society and religion irrevocably.

D.E. Meredith's measured prose and eye for exquisite detail moves seamlessly from the filthy docks on the Isle of Dogs to the jungles of Borneo and the drawing rooms of London's upper class. Her slow-burning mystery builds to a shocking conclusion, consuming victims—and Victorian London—as it goes.

About this title

About the Author

D.E. MEREDITH read English at Cambridge, then ran the press office and the land mines campaign for the Red Cross, travelling extensively to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Rwanda during the conflicts. She worked as a consultant on media relations for Greenpeace and other worthy causes before embarking on "The Hatton and Roumande Mysteries" series for St Martin's Press (DEVOURED, Oct 2010, THE DEVIL'S RIBBON Oct 2011). She has two boys, a tall husband, a barking (mad) Parsons Terrier and lives at a secret location on the River Thames. When not writing, she runs, rides her bike like a lunatic or eats home made cake.

Reviews

Set in 1856, Meredith's so-so debut mixes murder with the growing anxiety in Victorian England about evolutionary theory. Insp. George Adams of Scotland Yard brings in St. Bart's professor Adolphus Hatton, who serves as adviser on medical jurisprudence to the London police, to consult on the murder of Lady Bessingham, who was bludgeoned to death with an ammonite fossil. The victim was a controversial figure in society because of her patronage of men of science unconstrained by the biblical account of the creation of humanity. More figures connected with the Bessingham inquiry die strange deaths. Meanwhile, Hatton and his morgue aide, Albert Roumande, also investigate the murders of several girls, all around 12 years old, whose skins bear curious pinpricks. The author fails to do her intriguing premise justice, nor does she bring Hatton and company sufficiently to life. (Nov.) (c)
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Like the Victorian era that provides its setting, Meredith’s first novel is a carefully contrived surface, hiding dark things. For a while. The MacGuffin here is a series of letters the botanist Benjamin Broderig sends from steamy Borneo to his wealthy benefactress in London. She is murdered. The letters are stolen. The scientific establishment is even more desperate than the police to get back the letters because, we’re told, their contents would rock the known world. But excerpts will have readers scratching their heads. This is soft-core Darwinian stuff. Surely more is going on? There is, and fear of disclosure precipitates a series of murders whose details are comprehended only by the overworked pathologist Hatton and his assistant, Roumande. Their investigation goes from morgue to sweatshop to drawing room, all told in a polite, muted style that would seem to make this a lap-robe and pot-of-tea sort of novel despite the horrors that finally emerge. Its audience will comprise those who like to live in a book and are willing to let the author take her time. --Don Crinklaw

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031255768X
• ISBN 13: 9780312557683
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 291