WILLIAM SAVAGE’S LATEST BOOK
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The Adam Bascom Mysteries: Book 6
There were many wild, womanising Georgian rakes — and then there was Frederick Dalston: a young man hellbent on bringing total ruin to himself and his family. Yet when his body is found one morning on a lonely Norfolk road, matters take a more sinister turn. Is it a case of a highway robbery gone wrong? Revenge taken by one of the scores of people he had harmed? A random killing by a maniac? A punishment inflicted by a ruthless gang of freetraders?<
There were many wild, womanising Georgian rakes — and then there was Frederick Dalston: a young man hellbent on bringing total ruin to himself and his family. Yet when his body is found one morning on a lonely Norfolk road, matters take a more sinister turn. Is it a case of a highway robbery gone wrong? Revenge taken by one of the scores of people he had harmed? A random killing by a maniac? A punishment inflicted by a ruthless gang of freetraders?
The local coroner and magistrate quickly give up hope of finding the murderer. Then William Dalston, the dead man’s father, comes to see newly-married Sir Adam Bascom to plead for his help in finding who killed his son and heir.
Adam threads his way through the wreckage of Frederick Dalston’s life, finding Dalston had gone out of his way to make bitter enemies on every side. At last, after many false turns, the discovery of the schemes of a shadowy figure in Norwich’s criminal underworld, followed by an emotional confrontation in a country house, reveal the shocking truth about the true causes of Frederick Dalston’s death
“The Reluctant Heir” is the latest instalment in a series of historical mysteries which has drawn rave reviews from both sides of the Atlantic.
May 2020 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 This month’s posts
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Category Archives: Medicine & Science
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
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
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
The Georgian Apothecary
Medicine in georgian times was categorised largely by the social class of the practitioner and the scale of fees they charged. Some doctors did tend to focus on one or two main approaches to treatment — sea bathing, for example. … Continue reading
The Cure for ‘Green Sickness’
‘Green sickness’ was described as a condition ‘peculiar to virgins’, which was said to turn the skin a greenish colour and leave the sufferer weak and melancholic. It was also believed to be common throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, … Continue reading
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
