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A rich goldsmith turned banker goes missing, and his wife is found strangled on her own bed. It’s yet another case for Georgian Norwich’s most cunning and unconventional crime-solver, the bookseller Mr Ashmole Foxe!
Foxe is approached by representatives of the city’s mercantile elite to find the missing banker before his disappearance causes a financial panic. Thus begins a tale of intrigue, deceit and hatred, involving one of Foxe’s most loathed enemies.
Aided by a motley cast of street children, a beautiful teenage burglar, and several incompetent constables, Foxe must resort to breaking the law himself to bring the murderer to justice — and work out how thousands of pounds have been stolen from one of Norwich’s leading banks, without them noticing anything was missing.
Was Eleanor Melanus really as black as she was painted? Or was it her ill fortune to be both desirable and not too bright — a woman alternately used and betrayed by the men around her? Either way, Foxe must face down a pitiless criminal enterprise to discover what really went on in the Melanus household … and in the bank next door.
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Category Archives: Medicine & Science
A Pair of Famous Quacks
Despite The Enlightenment, the eighteenth century was still an age of credulity and superstition. Astrological almanacs and charms were sold by the thousand. Every sort of fortune-teller, quack doctor and peddler of patent remedies set themselves up in business. Since … Continue reading
The Georgian and Regency Home Medicine Chest
On a recent visit to Edinburgh, my wife and I visited The Georgian House in Charlotte Square. It’s a late-Georgian townhouse, wonderfully preserved, furnished and displayed by The National Trust for Scotland. During our visit, we spotted the early Regency … Continue reading
Marriage amongst the Middling Sort
Marriage was a significant part of life for the majority in 18th century England as it still is today. Not everyone married, of course, but most did. It was seen as a natural stage in life, important for the stability … Continue reading
Infant Mortality: A Surprising View
There are occasions when you come upon something from the 18th century that overturns our modern assumptions about people’s outlook on life at that time. Such an event occurred to me this week when I lit on this entry in … Continue reading
The Serious Business of Sea-Bathing
A little while ago, I wrote a post about sea bathing. It attracted so much interest I thought more research would be useful, going beyond the basics into the reasoning behind the fashion and how it changed during the 18th … Continue reading
Dealing with a Quack
In the eighteenth century, legislation to protect the public from quack doctors and other medical charlatans was still in its infancy. Here’s an example from a Norwich newspaper of 1767 where the magistrates made use of such legislation as … Continue reading
Melancholia: The English Malady
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
