The Witch at Wayside Cross
Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, crime or puzzling circumstances, think of Jesperson and Lane . . .
Jesperson and Lane have just solved their first major case when a man bangs violently on their door – and almost immediately drops dead. The police rule death by natural causes, but the detectives are determined to find out what really happened . . .
Mr Manning was screaming about witches before his death.
The case takes them to Mr Manning’s Norfolk home, a land of mysterious Shrieking Pits and ancient knowledge. Mr Manning was himself a member of the enigmatic School of Ancient British Wisdom, and not the first to suffer a similar fate. Local gossip suggests that he was secretly engaged to one of the three lovely sisters who reside at Wayside Cross – but which one? Are they really witches, as the gossips also claim?
And what does all this have to do with the mysterious Shrieking Pits and a mother desperate to find her missing baby?
Jesperson and Lane, at your service.
‘One of the SF and fantasy & horror field’s most urbane – and much under-appreciated- writers’ Love Reading
Jesperson and Lane have just solved their first major case when a man bangs violently on their door – and almost immediately drops dead. The police rule death by natural causes, but the detectives are determined to find out what really happened . . .
Mr Manning was screaming about witches before his death.
The case takes them to Mr Manning’s Norfolk home, a land of mysterious Shrieking Pits and ancient knowledge. Mr Manning was himself a member of the enigmatic School of Ancient British Wisdom, and not the first to suffer a similar fate. Local gossip suggests that he was secretly engaged to one of the three lovely sisters who reside at Wayside Cross – but which one? Are they really witches, as the gossips also claim?
And what does all this have to do with the mysterious Shrieking Pits and a mother desperate to find her missing baby?
Jesperson and Lane, at your service.
‘One of the SF and fantasy & horror field’s most urbane – and much under-appreciated- writers’ Love Reading
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Reviews
Sleepwalkers, psychics, and the spirits of the dead (or are they?) make for a heady stew in Lisa Tuttle's The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief, the first full-length novel about Jasper Jesperson and Miss Lane, a dauntless duo of Victorian detectives first introduced in her stories for Down These Strange Streets and Rogues. They're an entertaining pair, and it's great to see them back in action in a longer work. Here's hoping this is only the first in a long series of Lane and Jesperson adventures. Tuttle does a lovely job of putting us back in the foggy streets of Victorian London in this lively, entertaining blend of murder mystery and supernatural adventure. Arthur Conan Doyle would have approved.
Lisa Tuttle has quietly been writing remarkable, chilling short stories and powerful, haunting novels for many years now, and doing it so easily and so well that one almost takes it, and her, for granted. This would be as big a mistake as not reading Lisa Tuttle
The whole book is delightful to read. Tuttle handles the nuances of the Victorian environment with skilful impeccability
A regular, yet interesting 'whodunnit' with lots of culprits as the story twists along, at a good pace, never slowing down and yet always giving you just enough to go on
