
Death at the Devil’s Tavern
By Deryn Lake
John Rawlings, the exuberant young apothecary, is celebrating in The Devil’s Tavern, a popular if notorious haunt for sailors and smugglers.
Stumbling across a corpse that has been fished out of the Thames, he identifies it as Sir William Hartfield, the bridegroom who had failed to show at his own wedding earlier that day.
As the drowning reveals itself as murder, Rawlings is called upon by London’s revered sightless magistrate, John Fielding, to investigate the colourful members of Sir William’s family – from terrible old Lady Hodkin to her downtrodden daughter, and from Roger, flamboyant man of fashion to the outrageous twins who share an elaborate past.
This latest instalment in the John Rawlings series is as enthralling and head scratching as its counterparts. Fans of Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz will not want to miss out.
Deryn Lake started to write stories at the age of five then graduated to novels but destroyed all her early work because, she says, it was hopeless. A chance meeting with one of the Getty family took her to Sutton Place and her first serious novel was born. Deryn was married to a journalist and writer, the late L. F. Lampitt, has two grown-up children and lives in Mayfield, Sussex, with two large cats. She is also the author of Sutton Place, To Sleep No More, The King’s Women and As Shadows Haunting.