Customer Reviews

The Dead And The Innocent: True Crime 1692 (Volume 3)

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Review of the Dead and the Innocent
Melrose Books, Cambridge
Austin Kehoe, Commissioning Editor

"Only a few pages in, the author has accomplished several key tasks. The situation of Mistress Vanwicke, her character, and that of Henry Harrison (both of them somewhat vain, and with irascible, even violent tempers) have been established. The plot premise is likewise well set out and its development got well under way. Similarly, the historical setting has been established, with an economy of description which nevertheless evokes the period very satisfactorily. The interview with the attorney is a startling scene. Horrified that Doctor Clenche expects a mortgage on her house as security on the loan, Mistress Vanwick attacks the attorney, to the savage amusement of Harrison.

In conclusion this is an unusual, indeed quite original approach to fiction. The fictionalisation of true historical stories has been done before, of course, but I have never before come across an example where the source material is included as part of the work. This is valuable on a number of levels. Allowing readers to make up their own minds about the unmediated testimony is a novelty. Likewise, one is able to compare the transcript with the fictionalised story. Finally, it is nice to have the opportunity to read a period transcript featuring characters whom we have grown to know with the intimacy only fiction can offer.

Altogether, this is a very well conceived novel, and the author has carried off her audacious concept with great aplomb. I found it absorbing and utterly fascinating.

Review from Discovered Authors of Mayfair:

I have just been reading the extracts from your novel The Dead and the Innocent, and have found your writing concise yet evocative, the key to good storytelling. The era you have chosen is a particularly interesting one, characterised by change in all spheres, and your story is a great snapshot of the time. You have clearly done your research on this, capturing the atmosphere of late seventeenth century London well. Crime is, of course, one of the most popular genres of literature, and your book's basis on truth adds an extra dimension, sure to appeal to many.

Review by Zoetrope Reviewer

You clearly have command of the tale, Barbara and the particular mannerisms and speech of the time. I love your very stylish writing and your artistic flair for the language; you're clearly a historical writer of some merit.