WILLIAM SAVAGE’S LATEST BOOK
The Ashmole Foxe Mysteries: Book 7
AN UNIDENTIFIED BODY IS FOUND IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, A WAYWARD YOUNG PRIEST IS MURDERED … FRESH PROBLEMS FOR THE WILY MR FOXE.
The Reverend, the Honourable Henry Pryce-Perkins, to give him his full title, was both the youngest son of a peer of the realm and a brilliant scholar at Oxford. After ordination, the Bishop of Norwich appointed him Warden of St. Steven’s Hospital, until such time as he could be found a suitably large and prestigious parish. Now he has been found murdered outside his own house, and the bishop and mayor expect Foxe to give all his time and attention to discoveri
A day or so later, a call from the street children sends Foxe hurrying to look into the death of a young woman. Her richly-dressed body has been found in an empty and reputedly haunted house standing at the entrance to one of Norwich’s notorious ‘yards’: clusters of wretched tenements housing the poorest people in the city. Needless to say, Foxe can’t stop himself from getting involved in that mystery as well.
Now he’s facing two complex investigations, while a personal crisis is also brewing, involving the latest woman in his life. Can Foxe concentrate on finding the murderers and bring them to justice, while disentangling himself from a relationship rapidly going sour? What about his two past loves, both eager to take up where they left off and about to arrive back in Norwich?
As the complications continue to pile up, Ashmole Foxe will need to marshal all his resources and display even more cunning and determination than usual, if he hopes to resume his former happy-go-lucky style of life.
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Category Archives: Crime
Working for the Georgian Customs
It wasn’t job you could just walk into. Before you became a Customs officer you had to embark on six months training. This took place at some of the more important ports in the country, including Yarmouth and Lynn in … Continue reading
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“If You Want A Job Done Properly …”
Turning once again to the pages of the Ipswich Journal for April 15th, 1721, we find this fascinating report of a criminal trial held in Edinburgh, at which one James Campbell of Burbank, “late of the Stores in Edinburgh Castle”, … Continue reading
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Organised Crime in the 18th Century
It’s often said that there is nothing new under the sun, and this story from the Stamford Mercury for April 16th, 1772, certainly bears this out. It makes it quite clear that large-scale, organised crime is far from being the … Continue reading
“Crier! Call the Ghost”!
“A remarkable instance of a person being tried for murder on the pretended information of a ghost.” This was the headline above an article in the Chelmsford Chronicle dated 9th April, 1784. The minute I saw it, I knew it … Continue reading
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Poachers in the 18th Century
Much of what we think we know about poachers and poaching in the past derives from the 19th-century. That was when the conflict between the poacher and the game-loving landowner reached its peak, with considerable violence shown on both sides. … Continue reading
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The Murderous Georgian Rector of Wiveton
At around 11:15 pm on April 7, 1779, the audience began to leave the Covent Garden Theatre after a performance of a popular comic opera called “Love in a Village”. It was a warm night for early spring, and the … Continue reading
Posted in C18th Norfolk, Crime, Georgian Society
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John Black and “The Lady Shore”
John Black was born on 31 October, 1778, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. He spent his childhood at Woodbridge in Suffolk. His father, also called John, was curate at Butley from 1789 to 1813, Chaplain at the Woodbridge House of Correction, … Continue reading
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The Georgian Way with Debt
Imprisonment for debt has become a commonplace in historical novels set in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. How common was it and why were debtors thrown into gaol? Debtors were probably the largest element in the eighteenth-century prison population. Some … Continue reading
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Eighteenth-century Prosecution Associations
All my Georgian-era mystery stories share one element: the fact that England at the time had no system of public prosecution for crimes. Not only were there no police to investigate criminal acts, there were no official prosecutors to bring … Continue reading
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Pirates of the … North Sea?
Many of us were brought up on romantic tales of pirates sailing in various exotic parts of the world, whether through “Treasure Island” or “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Yet the business of being a pirate could be just as profitable, … Continue reading
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