The Solitary House: A Novel [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Lynn Shepherd (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 1, 2012

Lynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense, Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the time of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.
 
London, 1850. Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he works alone, struggling to eke out a living by tracking down criminals. Whenever he needs it, he has the help of his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary “thief taker,” a detective as brilliant and intuitive as they come.
 
On Charles’s latest case, he’ll need all the assistance he can get.
 
To his shock, Charles has been approached by Edward Tulkinghorn, the shadowy and feared attorney, who offers him a handsome price to do some sleuthing for a client. Powerful financier Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and Tulkinghorn wants Charles to—discreetly—find and stop whoever is responsible.
 
But what starts as a simple, open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with an unspeakable truth, Charles can only be aided so far by Maddox. The old man shows signs of forgetfulness and anger, symptoms of an age-related ailment that has yet to be named.
 
Intricately plotted and intellectually ambitious, The Solitary House is an ingenious novel that does more than spin an enthralling tale: it plumbs the mysteries of the human mind.

Praise for The Solitary House
 
“A Victorian tour de force . . . a must-read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“Dickens fans will rejoice. . . . [Lynn] Shepherd leaves the reader spellbound.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“The star of Lynn Shepherd’s intriguing mystery novel is mid-century Victorian London. . . . Her suspenseful story and winning prose ably serve her literary conceit.”—Associated Press
 
“Intellectually enthralling, with dark twists at every turn . . . a haunting novel that will have you guessing until the last pages.”—Historical Novels Review
 
“Lynn Shepherd has a knack for setting literary murder puzzles. . . . This literary magpie-ism is a treat for book lovers, a little nudge-and-a-wink here and there which delights fans of these other works without alienating those who haven’t read them yet. . . . An intelligent, gripping and beautifully written novel.”—The Scotsman
 
“The reader is plunged into a complex but comprehensible labyrinth of deception.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Dickens fans will rejoice upon finding characters from Bleak House performing similar roles in Shepherd’s second historical mystery (following Murder at Mansfield Park, 2010) featuring Charles Maddox, thief-taker (a Victorian detective).This reworking of the masterful classic features crooked lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn, Inspector Bucket, Lady Dedlock, and the not-quite-right Hester (Esther in Bleak House), who begins her narrative with Dickens’ words, “I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write . . . for I know I am not clever.” A labyrinthine plot narrated in three voices reveals the underlying motivations and connections of these characters in a story of pervasive deviance so sinister that even those hardened to London’s nineteenth-century underworld will reel in shock. Maddox is manipulated by Tulkinghorn on behalf of the attorney’s wealthy clients to ferret out those who might expose a nasty secret; as the investigation progresses, Maddox finds himself and everyone he knows in the path of a psychotic killer. Shepherd leaves the reader spellbound by masterfully building suspense, creating a pervasively clammy and befogged atmosphere, and offering a cast of unforgettably peculiar characters, making the most of authentic, period language and a soupçon of subtle humor. Those who haven’t read Bleak House will be ready to have a go, while those looking for contemporary read-alikes should be encouraged to try Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith (2002)or Sara Stockbridge’s Grace Hammer (2009). --Jen Baker

Review

Praise for The Solitary House
 
“A Victorian tour de force . . . a must-read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“Dickens fans will rejoice. . . . [Lynn] Shepherd leaves the reader spellbound.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“The star of Lynn Shepherd’s intriguing mystery novel is mid-century Victorian London. . . . Her suspenseful story and winning prose ably serve her literary conceit.”—Associated Press
 
“Intellectually enthralling, with dark twists at every turn . . . a haunting novel that will have you guessing until the last pages.”—Historical Novels Review
 
“Lynn Shepherd has a knack for setting literary murder puzzles. . . . This literary magpie-ism is a treat for book lovers, a little nudge-and-a-wink here and there which delights fans of these other works without alienating those who haven’t read them yet. . . . An intelligent, gripping and beautifully written novel.”—The Scotsman
 
“The reader is plunged into a complex but comprehensible labyrinth of deception.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st Edition, 1st Printing edition (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345532422
• ISBN-13: 978-0345532428
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write what I like to call 'literary murder'. In other words crime novels with a literary twist. I started with Murder at Mansfield Park, which was 'Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie', and I've now moved on to Charles Dickens with Tom-All-Alone's (UK)/The Solitary House (North America). It's inspired by Bleak House as my birthday present on his bicentenary.

I can't remember who it was who said you should write the sort of books you enjoy reading, but they were right - both my books combine my two great literary loves: classic English novels, and good detective fiction. I studied English at university (and have a doctorate in it too).

My other loves include cats (I have two), the English countryside (which I'm lucky enough to live in), Renaissance art (which I'm sadly not lucky enough to own), Palladian architecture, and America's finest police shows (Law & Order, Without a Trace, need I go on). Pet hates include wasps, monkeys, The Simpsons (just can't deal with the yellow faces), and the lazy use of the word "solutions" (I write for businesses as my day job, so that's the corporate copywriter creeping in).

I'm writing my third book now, which will be out in 2013 from Corsair (UK) and Random House (North America).

My Twitter ID is @Lynn_Shepherd, and my website is www.lynn-shepherd.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling Dickensian Homage March 21, 2012

By F. S. L'hoir VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I made the mistake of reading the first couple of pages of "The Solitary House" as soon as it arrived in the mail--a mistake, because I could not tear myself away from it for the next eight hours.

Lynn Shepherd has crafted a superb mystery, which will sweep you back through time, into the fog-bound streets of mid-Victorian London. From the outwardly-respectable barrister's chambers of Lincoln's Inn Fields to the gin-soaked stews of Seven Dials, she conducts her readers on a tour that is as vivid as it is detailed. "The Solitary House" (called "Tom-All-Alone's", in Britain, after a Dickensian London slum) is not merely a mystery that has been plopped willy-nilly into a pseudo-period setting. Ms Shepherd is so steeped in both the history and the literature of 19th-Century London that her exceptionally well-written novel possesses an authenticity that is rare in mysteries nowadays.

I especially enjoyed the manner in which Ms Shepherd's narrative crossed paths with that of Charles Dickens in "Bleak House" (my favourite Dickens novel). The detective, Charles Maddox, in fact, is sent on his investigation by Edward Tulkinghorn, the hardhearted attorney-at-law of "Bleak House" (but I shall say no more in order not to spoil it for you). The narrative is so rich with imagery that evokes Dickens, you may very well take your copy of "Bleak House" off the shelf to reread, not only because the novel becomes more enjoyable with each reading, but also because you will then appreciate Ms Shepherd's allusions fully. Moreover, the twists and turns of the plot are guaranteed to keep you reading until the end, which should reward all readers generously, and delight lovers of 19th-century literature absolutely.

Highly recommended.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Charles DIckens & Wilkie Collins Amusement Park Ride May 15, 2012

By A. Budner

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

How can I rate a book I disdain as contrived, poorly narrated and trying too hard to be clever? It would be a clear case for one star, except that in this instance it was almost compulsively readable. Every time I threw it across the room in annoyance I had to go pick it up and keep on reading. That ability to make a woman as lazy as I am get up from a position of comfort earns Shepherd's second novel a second star (and a half if I could give half stars).

A literary mash-up of "Bleak House" and "The Woman in White", Lynn Shepherd's well-plotted mystery inevitably suffers by comparison to its progenitors. While she does a good job of evoking the energy and squalor of London in 1850, she strains to fit her plot into the interstices between Dickens' and Collins' far better novels. Virtually every character of note from both books gets a least a cameo in "The Solitary House," making the novel feel a bit like a hollywood spectacle from the '50s or '60s -- trotting out every available star for a characteristic walk on bit. Yes, is is fun to realize who everyone is, but aside from the looming figure of Mr. Tulkinghorn and the more ambiguous character of Inspector Bucket, most of the familiar figures are curiosities, not characters. There is also a parallel, oblique second narrative written by one Hester, clearly modeled on Esther Summerson from Bleak House, which is the subtlest and eeriest writing in the book and another good reason to award the extra star.

Literary rebirths aside, the focal point of the story is Charles Maddox, a disgraced ex-policeman struggling to make ends meet as a consulting detective when he gets what appears to be a simple and lucrative commission from the powerful and shady lawyer, Tulkinghorn. Charles is a bit of a hot-headed youngster, but as the case begins to deepen he takes up residence with his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary thief taker who's career (partially chronicled in Shepherd's first book "Murder at Mansfield Park") flourished before the founding of the Metropolitan Police. Sadly, the elder Maddox is clearly slipping into a form of dementia, though in his rare moments of lucidity he provides invaluable assistance to his great-nephew.

Readers will easily infer that Maddox's disease is intended to be Alzheimer's or another form of senile dementia, though these disorders were not so named during the 1850s. Shepherd foolishly opts to makes the connection obvious using a heavy-handed omniscient narrator who intrudes with 21st century perspectives on a story that is unfolding in the present tense in 1850. For example, when we are first getting to know Charles and it becomes clear he has a talent for finding his way through London's fog befuddled streets the narrator breaks in with: "A modern neurologist would say he had unusually well-developed spatial cognition combined with almost photographic memory function." It's a bit like a voice over in a History Channel documentary telling us something we can already see clearly for ourselves. Without this this narrative voice this book would have been much, much stronger. Because of it, the book feels clunky and schoolmarmish despite a tone that is intended to signal that the author and the reader share the same inside jokes.

Still to Shepherd's credit, I read every page, though I threw it against the wall one last time when she blatantly advertised that her next book, or one in the near future, will return to the early days of the first Maddox and his encounter with Percy Bysse Shelley, Mary Wollstencraft Shelley and Frankenstein. I'm going to try not to read it, though I'm ashamed to admit I might have to borrow a copy from the library.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful atmospheric mid nineteenth century thriller May 1, 2012

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

In 1850 London, powerful sly lawyer Edward Tulkinghorn hires Metropolitan Police Officer Charles Maddox to uncover the identity of a nasty author of acrimonious writings aimed at merchant banker Sir Julius Cremorne and to insure the notes end. Charles is stunned by his sudden good fortune as ever since his superior Bucket fired him for insubordination he has struggled to eke out a living.

To help him on his inquiry Charles turns to his brilliant but increasingly demented Great Uncle Maddox the "thief taker" on what they each assume will be an easy case. Instead as he stumbles along a conspiracy of wealth, Charles is unaware that the diabolical Edward has a hidden agenda.

Paying homage to Charles Dickens' Bleak House, Lynn Shepherd writes a delightful atmospheric mid nineteenth century thriller. The cast makes the suspense work as readers will empathize with a frustrated Maddox struggling with his deteriorating mind and appreciate his mentoring relationship with his nephew. Tulkinghorn is a brilliant shadowy manipulator as he has several of the players including his hired detective (and readers wanting to know what game he plays) dangling from strings. With an anonymous narrator adding a sense of doom, fans will enjoy this taut tale as even a young Ripper makes an appearance.

Harriet Klausner