Cora Harrison, a former headteacher, transitioned to writing, publishing twenty-six children's novels. Her foray into adult fiction began with a Celtic historical crime series, introducing readers to Mara, Brehon of the Burren. Set in the evocative landscape of western Ireland, her work often draws inspiration from her surroundings. Harrison's writing offers a blend of compelling mystery and rich cultural context.
March, 1859. During an exhibition to showcase London's top engineers' plans to solve the 'Great Stink' of sewage from the River Thames, proceedings are disrupted by an agonised scream - and the discovery of a blood-soaked body. Charles Dickens is convinced of foul play, and once again he and Wilkie Collins set about uncovering the shocking truth.
Wealthy widow Charlotte Hendrick summons her closest family, including her cousin, the Reverend Mother, to her home on Bachelor's Quay to divide her riches between them. But then a body is discovered in the master bedroom, its throat cut. Could there be a connection to the riots on the quays the night before - or does the killer lie closer to home?
August, 1856. The dress rehearsal for a charity performance atKnebworth House is disrupted by the discovery of a body lying in the centre ofthe stage, shot to death. With everyone involved in the play coming undersuspicion, writer- sleuths Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, spending thesummer at Knebworth House, feel compelled to investigate.
The Reverend Mother's investigative skills are called into action when a local tobacco factory burns down and fingers are pointed at one of her ex pupils..."Stellar . . . Harrison is writing at the top of her game" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review 1920s. Cork, Ireland. Early one morning the Reverend Mother receives news of a deadly fire at the local cigarette factory, a place where she'd been so proud that some of her pupils had been given a steady job. In a city full of poverty, unemployment and political unrest, these ex pupils of hers had surely been blessed with such prospects. Now, though, she is worried . . . What happened at the cigarette factory and why are there rumours circulating that one of her 'girls' was responsible?Inspector Patrick Cashman is under pressure to quickly find the cause of the fire - and identify a suspect - to placate the visiting Lord Mayor and Commissioner and secure his hopes of promotion. Patrick turns to his friend, the journalist and law student Eileen MacSweeney, for help, along with the ever insightful and calm Reverend Mother. From the fog-ridden streets of the slums to the green pastures and prosperity of nearby Youghal, together they begin to unravel a seedy history of greed, ambition and a desire for power.
Meet Jenny Cooper: shy, pretty cousin of clever, sparky Jane Austen.
'Meet the teenage Jane Austen in the gorgeous tale of dances, dresses, disasters ... and first love'--cover.
On her first visit for fifty years to Cork's main department store, the Queen's Old Castle, the Reverend Mother is struck by how little has changed. But when the store's owner staggers from his office and topples over the railings to his death, Mother Aquinas is once again drawn into a baffling murder investigation.
Bright lights, dark secrets and first love in the second book in this gorgeous series.It’s 1924. Leaving their beloved Beech Grove Manor to go to London for the season, Poppy and Daisy Derrington know that they must shine as debutantes.Since a girl cannot inherit her father's estate, the sisters have to marry well or face being left penniless.But it’s not money or marriage that interests them. It’s music, cinema, literature, fashion, parties, love – everything that is shiny and new. Trapped by the dusty traditions of their class, Daisy and Poppy must choose between family duty and the bright lights of the roaring twenties . . .
November, 1853. Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins are summoned to examine a body found in an attic studio, surrounded by a lacerated painting titled A Winter of Despair. Wilkie recognizes the victim as a friend of his brother Charley. What secrets lie among the close-knit group of Pre-Raphaelite painters who were the victim's friends?
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins team up after a housemaid is dragged from the River Thames in this new Victorian mystery series. The woman was being blackmailed, but by who and why? The woman's friend, Sesina, discovers only fragments of the woman's journal... but is she withholding information or doomed to end up like her friend?