An Unlamented Death: A Mystery Set In Georgian England
Adam Bascom, a young Norfolk doctor, comes across a body lying in a churchyard near his family home. The death appears accidental: no signs of struggle or robbery, only a blow to the head. The peculiarity lies in the fact that this is Archdeacon Ross of Norwich, a long way from his own milieu. During the inquest, Adam is mortified to be silenced by the coroner when he raises questions that are then ignored.
Adam is convinced that something is being covered up. The Archdeacon was universally disliked for his ambition, bigotry, and bullying, and is unlamented by all who knew him and too many different agencies seem to have an interest in the matter being brought to a close. Add into the mix a missing magistrate and a cast-off son, Dissenters, Quakers, smugglers and spies, the looming shadow of the recent French Revolution, and the case begins to spiral out of Adam’s control.
This novel seems to be the start of a series, with Adam and his apothecary friend Lassimer at the centre, and Miss Lasalle, the mysterious companion as a possible romantic interest. Norfolk in the 1790s is rife with intrigue for an enquiring mind such as the young doctor’s. His character is excitable, occasionally callow, and often reliant upon cooler counsel to show him the way forward; he is not the all-seeing detective, but a man who is set a puzzle that he ca not let go of until it is solved.
However, there is a lot included that should have been backstory. Just because Adam is a doctor, there is no reason to indulge in discourses upon the nature of medicine at the time unless they pertain directly to the plot – which they do not. There is a lot of information about Quakers which, while adding background colour, is diversionary. Entire sections merely add weight but not quality. The author succeeds in capturing the tone of the era, both in narration and in dialogue, with one glaring exception: the story starts at ‘Around 8.00 am, Tuesday, 10 April 1792’. Date and time should be rendered as Adam himself would have known it.
This is a long novel that could have been three-quarters the length without losing anything and would have gained considerably by being that much tighter. The author himself seems to lose his way at one point, when Adam’s housekeeper turns up in Lassimer’s employ in Chapter fourteen. That said, I would read a sequel if it were to be more rigorously edited The author would be well advised to find a good professional editor for any future books and to re-edit of this one, because there is a good story – series even – waiting to get out!
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