Description
** A TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR ** 'Nattrass's best yet' - S.G. MACLEAN 'Wonderfully evocative' - DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Authentic and relentlessly pageturning' - SUNDAY EXPRESS 1796. A rigged election. A town at war. A murderer at large... Disgraced former Foreign Office clerk Laurence Jago and his larger-than-life employer the journalist William Philpott have escaped America - and Philpott's near imprisonment for libel - by the skin of their teeth. They return to Laurence's home town of Helston, Cornwall, in the hope of rest and recuperation, but instead find themselves in the middle of a tumultuous election that has the inhabitants of the town at one another's throats. Only two men may vote in this rotten borough, and when one of them dies in suspicious circumstances, Laurence is ordered to investigate on behalf of the town's patron, his old master the Duke of Leeds. But it is no easy matter, thanks to the machinations of the rival political factions, not to mention the riotous performances of Toby the Sapient Hog. Then the second elector is poisoned and suspicion turns on the town doctor, the gentle Pythagoras Jago, Laurence's own cousin. Suddenly Laurence finds himself ensnared in generations of bad blood and petty rivalries, with his cousin's fate in his hands... The new page-turning historical mystery from the author of Black Drop, a 2021 Times Book of the Year, and Blue Water, a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Perfect for readers of Andrew Taylor, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and S.J. Parris. 'An enjoyable read' - THE TIMES 'Wonderfully witty' - ROBERT J. LLOYD
The sequel to 2021's critically acclaimed Black Drop and 2022's bestselling Blue Water, in which reluctant sleuth Laurence Jago becomes enmeshed in a deadly election in his native Cornwall
About the Author
Leonora Nattrass studied eighteenth-century literature and politics, and spent ten years lecturing in English and publishing works on William Cobbett. She lives in Cornwall, in a seventeenth-century house with seventeenth-century draughts, and spins the fleeces of her Ryeland sheep into yarn. Her first novel, Black Drop, was published in 2021, and was a Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month. Her second, Blue Water, was published in 2022. Find her on Twitter @LeonoraNattrass
Reviews
Gloriously entertaining... Authentic and relentlessly pageturning, Scarlet Town provides fresh proof of its author's talent for setting a gripping murder mystery against a detailed backdrop of 18th-century society, and it further enhances her reputation as a first-class writer * Sunday Express *
Wonderfully evocative * Telegraph *
Leonora Nattrass transports the reader to 18th-century Cornwall and corrupt electioneering in a divided town... Writing with panache, Nattrass reminds us that rotten boroughs are hardly a new phenomenon. * Financial Times *
As enjoyable a read as her earlier novels * Sunday Times *
Nattrass is so at home with the history, customs and language of her chosen period that she bring a relaxed credibility to this tale of public and private malfeasance * Literary Review *
I absolutely loved Scarlet Town... It is [Nattrass's] best yet - the characters and the story and setting are all just brilliant -- S.G. MacLean, author of THE BOOKSELLER OF INVERNESS
This gets my vote! Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie in this cleverly plotted tale of courtship, poison, and electoral shenanigans. The characters and their dialogue, as ever with Leonora Nattrass, are wonderfully witty -- Robert J. Lloyd, author of THE BLOODLESS BOY
I can't get enough of Nattrass's Laurence Jago series, and Scarlet Town is another fantastic instalment! With a setting and characters that leap off the page, Scarlet Town is an immersive and delightful read that I absolutely whizzed through. A brilliantly entertaining historical crime caper - I loved it -- Philippa East, author of LITTLE WHITE LIES
An elegant, richly detailed, historical joy! Wonderful to be reunited with diffident 'hero' Laurence Jago, his green spectacles and his slyly amusing commentary -- Kate Griffin, author of FYNESHADE
A brilliant addition to the Laurence Jago series, an election in an 18th Century Cornish town where only two people can vote and one of them dies... I loved it -- J.B. Mylet, author of THE HOMES
Awards
Long-listed for Historical Dagger 2024 (UK).
Book Information
ISBN 9781800816961
Author Leonora Nattrass
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Viper
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 526g
Dimensions(mm) 238mm * 162mm * 34mm
The sequel to 2021's critically acclaimed Black Drop and 2022's bestselling Blue Water, in which reluctant sleuth Laurence Jago becomes enmeshed in a deadly election in his native Cornwall
About the Author
Leonora Nattrass studied eighteenth-century literature and politics, and spent ten years lecturing in English and publishing works on William Cobbett. She lives in Cornwall, in a seventeenth-century house with seventeenth-century draughts, and spins the fleeces of her Ryeland sheep into yarn. Her first novel, Black Drop, was published in 2021, and was a Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month. Her second, Blue Water, was published in 2022. Find her on Twitter @LeonoraNattrass
Reviews
Gloriously entertaining... Authentic and relentlessly pageturning, Scarlet Town provides fresh proof of its author's talent for setting a gripping murder mystery against a detailed backdrop of 18th-century society, and it further enhances her reputation as a first-class writer * Sunday Express *
Wonderfully evocative * Telegraph *
Leonora Nattrass transports the reader to 18th-century Cornwall and corrupt electioneering in a divided town... Writing with panache, Nattrass reminds us that rotten boroughs are hardly a new phenomenon. * Financial Times *
As enjoyable a read as her earlier novels * Sunday Times *
Nattrass is so at home with the history, customs and language of her chosen period that she bring a relaxed credibility to this tale of public and private malfeasance * Literary Review *
I absolutely loved Scarlet Town... It is [Nattrass's] best yet - the characters and the story and setting are all just brilliant -- S.G. MacLean, author of THE BOOKSELLER OF INVERNESS
This gets my vote! Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie in this cleverly plotted tale of courtship, poison, and electoral shenanigans. The characters and their dialogue, as ever with Leonora Nattrass, are wonderfully witty -- Robert J. Lloyd, author of THE BLOODLESS BOY
I can't get enough of Nattrass's Laurence Jago series, and Scarlet Town is another fantastic instalment! With a setting and characters that leap off the page, Scarlet Town is an immersive and delightful read that I absolutely whizzed through. A brilliantly entertaining historical crime caper - I loved it -- Philippa East, author of LITTLE WHITE LIES
An elegant, richly detailed, historical joy! Wonderful to be reunited with diffident 'hero' Laurence Jago, his green spectacles and his slyly amusing commentary -- Kate Griffin, author of FYNESHADE
A brilliant addition to the Laurence Jago series, an election in an 18th Century Cornish town where only two people can vote and one of them dies... I loved it -- J.B. Mylet, author of THE HOMES
Awards
Long-listed for Historical Dagger 2024 (UK).
Book Information
ISBN 9781800816961
Author Leonora Nattrass
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Viper
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 526g
Dimensions(mm) 238mm * 162mm * 34mm
