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: Medicine & Science
Melancholy and the Romantic Movement
How did the concept of melancholy came to be seen as especially associated with Romanticism and creativity in the arts? In the 18th century, the concept of sensibility—a refined feeling of emotion and delicacy of perception—was synonymous with social refinement … Continue reading
Posted in Georgian Society, Medicine & Science
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Melancholy and Madness
In the eighteenth century, melancholia was thought of not as a curable mental affliction, but as one of the primary forms of madness. Melancholia means ‘black bile’, one of the four bodily humours recognised by the Hippocratic and Galenic systems … Continue reading
Posted in Georgian Society, Medicine & Science
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Was Melancholy THE English Malady of the 18th Century?
“Mine, you are to know, is a white Melancholy, or rather Leucocholy… which though it seldom laughs or dances, nor ever amounts to what one calls Joy or Pleasure, yet is a good easy sort of a state … But … Continue reading
Posted in Georgian Society, Medicine & Science, Uncategorized
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Some Georgian Medicine (from the archives)
Elizabeth Postlethwaite in 1777 (© Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London) A little while ago, rummaging in a secondhand bookshop as I often do, I found a small, locally-published book containing extracts from the correspondence of two Norfolk sisters, Elizabeth and … Continue reading
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The 18th-century Apothecary
Those of you who have read any of my Georgian murder-mystery books featuring Dr Adam Bascom will know that one of the important series characters is Peter Lassimer, an apothecary. I was therefore fascinated to find an article in a … Continue reading
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“Cunning Folk”: Witchcraft, Healing and Superstition
It’s easy to forget that “Cunning Folk” had been a normal part of society from the Middle Ages and continued right through until the start of the 20th century. They included men and women, some practising as healers, some as … Continue reading
Posted in Georgian Society, Medicine & Science
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The ‘Bluestockings’ and Society
Today the term ‘bluestocking’ is applied to women who do not conform to the supposed feminine stereotype. In the eighteenth century, it had not yet gained that automatic sneer and referred to any woman distinguished by learning and intelligence. So … Continue reading
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The Medical Free-for-All that was Georgian Britain
It’s easy to assume that the treatment options open to people in Georgian times were prescribed by income and social class. This is incorrect. Naturally, in such a laissez faire era, the richer you were, the more choices were open … Continue reading
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Forthergil’s Chymical Nervous Drops
Surely a Remedy Worth Having! One of the particular joys of reading through eighteenth-century newspapers is finding advertisements for various ‘quack’ remedies and patent medicines. This one, from The Norfolk Chronicle for 17th March, 1781, really wins the prize! What … Continue reading
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Georgian “Madness” and Melancholy
In the eighteenth century, “madness” was used as a catch-all description for just about any type of mental illness, from depression to full-blown psychosis and mania. The causes were much debated, not just by medical men either. Some saw madness … Continue reading
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