When Kit goes to a dance class she is hoping simply to take her mind off her studies. Soon it looks like Joe, a stranger she meets there, might do more than that. But when Kit uncovers a mystery involving the young Charles Dickens and the slaughter of a prostitute known as The Countess, she is sucked back in to the world of books, and discovers how Dickens became tangled up with this horrendous crime.

A literary murder mystery and a tale of modern love from an Orange-longlisted author

About the Author
Rebecca Gowers is the author of The Swamp of Death (Hamish Hamilton), the true story of a fatal showdown between a late Victorian conman and a corrupt detective, shortlisted for the 2004 CWA non-fiction Golden Dagger Award, and of a debut novel, When to Walk (Canongate), longlisted for the Orange Prize, 2007.

Reviews
A genuinely puzzling historical murder mystery linking Dickens to the gruesome murder of a prostitute . . . Fresh and clever and very funny. * * Guardian * *
Gowers's writing is absolutely beautiful. * * The Times * *

Really a contemporary love story, and a very good one too . . . This is fine writing . . . sharp, acute, comic and true to life.

-- Allan Massie * * Scotsman * *
Gowers is a genius. -- Scarlett Thomas
Singularly convincing an genuinely moving . . . Twenty-first-century love is laid tenderly but unflinchingly bare in this ultimately strange and lingering novel. * * Independent on Sunday * *
A dark delight of a novel. -- Tina Jackson * * Metro * *



Book Information
ISBN 9781847671554
Author Rebecca Gowers
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Canongate Books
Publisher Canongate Books
Weight(grams) 207g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 128mm * 17mm