Murder Ballad

Isobel Duguid and her friend, the celebrated castrato Clessidro, enjoy an opulent lifestyle as the stars of the Edinburgh Musical Society. Clessidro sings opera and Isobel, despite the objections of the society’s committee, sings dark Scottish ballads, her most notorious being The Fiddler’s Wrath.  

It’s a tale of a prima donna who died of heartbreak after her husband murdered her lover and was sent to the gallows. But this ballad is more than fiction, and when the truth about The Fiddler’s Wrath comes to light, Isobel must confront ghosts from her own past and face chilling retribution for a secret kept far too long . . .

Combining the macabre murder mystery of Patrick Suskind’s Perfume with the feminist slant of Kate Foster’s The Maiden, Murder Ballad explores a tale of friendship, betrayal and deadly secrets.

‘A wildly original and alarmingly readable historical novel whose dark, blood-soaked narrative takes us by surprise at every turn. Lucy Ribchester brings to life the musical culture, both high and low, of eighteenth-century Edinburgh through the lives of a handful of women. Brilliantly written…Its protagonist, Isobel Duguid, is frankly unforgettable.’
Andrew Taylor

‘This glorious romp through the filth, greed and duplicity of 18th century Edinburgh is a feminist delight. Written with passion and musicality it is both hugely enjoyable and stuffed to the gunnels with the appetites of life. Highly recommended.’

Mary Paulson-Ellis

‘Gorgeous, gripping and grisly’

Lynsey May, author of Weak Teeth

‘Lucy Ribchester has the power to take her readers to the heart of 18th-century Auld Reekie where she regales them with tales of opera singers and murderers, of cobbled streets and Old Town tenements, of audacious women and what can befall them. The writing is sublime, I loved every word.’

Elissa Soave, author of Ginger and Me