This short story is a prelude to the next full-length novel, to be published next February, in what has become one of my favourite series of historical mysteries, set in early 19th century England and featuring the Bow Street Runners, the historical Detective Stephen Lavender and his sidekick Constable Ned Woods. This concerns the case of a murdered prostitute and our heroes' attempts to get the case taken seriously and army officer culprits exposed and condemned. This they succeed in doing, but at the expense of Lavender compromising his integrity as a police officer. I love the regular characters in here, they are three dimensional and you can imagine their lives outside the plots of the stories. ( )

A short story in the Detective Stephen Lavender Mysteries. It’s like a little prequel to the next book, The Willow Marsh Murder, which is due to be published next year. A young woman’s body is found down a well and it’s up to Detective Lavender and his sidekick Constable Ned Woods to prove the culpability of the known killers.

This is such an engaging, well written and entertaining series and, although I’m not always a fan of short stories, I really enjoyed this one. I love the main characters, they make an intrepid duo. I look forward to reading the next book! ( )