“Rollicking whodunit adventure…Terrific.“
Ian Rankin
Waterstones Edinburgh’s Book of the Year
Longlisted HWA Goldsboro Debut Crown Award
A Val McDermid New Blood Pick, Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival
1912 and London is in turmoil…
The suffragette movement is reaching fever pitch but for broke Fleet Street tomboy Frankie George, just getting by in the cut-throat world of newspapers is hard enough. Sent to interview trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, Frankie finds herself fascinated by the tightly laced acrobat and follows her across London to a Mayfair corset shop that hides more than one dark secret.
When Ebony Diamond mysteriously disappears in the middle of a performance, Frankie is drawn into a world of tricks, society columnists, corset fetishists, suffragettes and circus freaks. How did Ebony vanish, who was she afraid of, and what goes on behind the doors of the mysterious Hourglass Factory?
From the newsrooms of Fleet Street to the drawing rooms of high society, the missing Ebony Diamond leads Frankie to the trail of a murderous villain with a plot more deadly than anyone could have imagined…
Also published in the USA (Pegasus), Poland (Marginsey), Turkey (Alef) and Romania (Rao).
“a sexy fast-paced historical murder mystery…a thrilling combination of corsets, Emmeline Pankhurst and female journalists…”
The Herald
“a wonderful debut…a lively, funny, unexpected book…vivid characters and a great sense of curiosity — a splendid opening to a career.”
USA Today
“expertly paced and plotted…..How can one resist such a deliciously over-the-top, historically savvy novel?”
Kirkus (starred review)
“a ripping yarn….Clever and fun, humane yet deeply readable….The Hourglass Factory is that rare thing—an entertaining novel that you come out of feeling smarter than you were when you went in.”
Martin Cornwell, Quadrapheme
“this whodunnit teems with larger-than-life characters…all breathing life into Ribchester’s London.”
The Guardian
I’ve written about some of my inspiration books, and favourite extraordinary London heroines, on books website Shepherd, which you can read here.