NHFT virtual book club meeting #38 - Daughters of Night

Returning from contemporary Japan via Durian Sukegawa's touching Sweet Bean Paste, we have arrived in Georgian London courtesy of Laura Shepherd-Robinson's Daughters of Night.

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline 'Caro' Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. 

The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly-paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. 

Enlisting the help of thieftaker, Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives.

But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro's own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous than she can know . . .

‘Daughters of Night has everything a historical crime thriller needs – intrigue, attention to detail, suspense, colourful characters and heroines a plenty. A triumph in its field.’ – The Wee Review

‘I would gamble what’s left of my virtue on Daughters of Night being the best historical crime novel I will read this year.’ - Antonia Senior, The Times

We'll be meeting on Thursday 29th of August via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there...