The #MysteryNovember Book Tour Day 18 Carol Hedges @caroljhedges #wwwblogs

Day 18 of the #MysteryNovember book tour, hop aboard the bus and enjoy the ride.

Today our guest is Carol Hedges and her book Death and Dominion.

When Detectives Stride & Cully are called in to investigate a fatal case of arsenic poisoning, they quickly realise that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Despite their best efforts, secrets and lies will dog the investigation and frustrate their efforts. It will take all the skill and ingenuity of two of Scotland Yard’s finest to get to the truth of the matter.

 

Meanwhile London is playing host to two enigmatic strangers: 

Darkly handsome Mark Hawksley has come to enrich himself at the expense of the gullible and greedy by selling fake shares in a bogus diamond mine company. 

Beautiful Belinda Kite has come to find excitement and adventure, and maybe bag herself the prize of a rich husband in the process. 

What will happen when their paths cross? 

 

Murder, love, trickery and false identities abound in this third Victorian crime novel, set once again in the foggy gas-lit streets and twisting alleyways of 1860s London. 

Where is your home town?

I was born in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire in 1950. It is one of the ‘garden cities’ designed by Ebenezer Howard supposed to be healthier than London. I now live quite close by in Harpenden, and I still visit on the bus. The centre has changed very little (obviously it has got MUCH smaller than I remember it as a child) but the town has suffered from the usual urban sprawl and the outlying areas, that I remember as stretches of wood and field, are now housing estates.

What do you like about writing in the mystery genre?

I enjoy the concept of tracking the unknown. Of starting with, in my case, a mysterious crime, and then watching as the events unfold and the mystery is explained and unravelled.

What is your sub-genre?

I write Historical crime fiction.

Where is your book set?

Each of the three books in my series is set in London, in the1860s. I chose that period firstly because it was when my favourite Victorian writers were working (Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Mrs Gaskell) and also it was when everything we take for granted – transport, surgery, flush toilets, was being invented.

A lot of ‘modern’ histfic writers base their work in the 1880s, the time of Conan Doyle, Jack the Ripper etc. I felt there was not really room for another writer, so decided to drop back twenty years. So far, I haven’t regretted it, and neither have my readers, judging from all the lovely reviews they kindly leave on sites.

Can you introduce us to the main characters?

The two main characters, who feature in all three books, are Detective Inspector Leo Stride of the detective division of the Metropolitan Police and his second in command Detective Sergeant Jack Cully. And then there are a host of heroes, heroines, villains and the city of London itself.

In Death & Dominion, the latest book, readers will meet ruthlessly handsome predator Mark Hawksley, and the beautiful young adventuress Belinda Kite ….and a host of heroes, villains etc.

Where can readers find your books?

I can be tracked down on my Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/1N1P3DF

 

Death & Dominion can be sampled at: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B015HCZA4G (universal Amazon link)

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Carol%20Hedges%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall

 

Readers can also find me @carolJhedges and read my blogs at: carolhedges.blogspot.co.uk