The Mourning Bells (Lady of Ashes Series #4)

by Christine Trent

Overview

One of Victorian London’s most respected undertakers, Violet Harper has the new duty of accompanying coffins from various undertakers on the London Necropolis Railway for respectful funerals and burials in Surrey. But on her fateful first trip, the mournful silence of the train is shattered by the shrill ringing of a coffin bell—a device that prevents a person from being buried alive.

Inside the noisome coffin Violet finds a man wide-eyed with fear, claiming he was falsely interred. When a second coffin bell is rung on another trip Violet grows suspicious. She voices her qualms to Inspector Hurst of Scotland Yard, only to receive a puzzling reply that, after all, it is not a crime to rise from the dead.

But Violet’s instincts are whispering that all is not well on the London Necropolis Railway’s tracks. Is this all merely the result of clumsy undertaking, or is there something more sinister afoot? Determined to get to the heart of the matter, Violet uncovers a treacherous plot and villains who will stop at nothing to keep a lid on her search for the truth…

Praise for Lady of Ashes

“A vibrant story.”
—Toronto Star

“Rich with historical incidents and details.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A book you can sink your teeth into, with characters you’ll fall in love with."
—Mystery Scene Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617736438
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	03/31/2015
Series:	Lady of Ashes Series , #4
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Christine Trent lives in the Mid-Atlantic region with her husband, Jon, and five cats: Caesar, Claudia, Livia, Marcus, and Octavian. When she isn't writing, you can usually find her scrapbooking, planning a trip to England, or haunting bookstores. She is the author of the Lady of Ashes historical mystery series. Please visit Christine at www.ChristineTrent.com.

Editorial Reviews

02/16/2015
An intriguing though ghoulish premise sparks Trent’s fourth Victorian whodunit featuring London undertaker Violet Harper (after 2014’s Stolen Remains). Violet, who disapproves of “safety” coffins that enable the mistakenly interred to alert the world above ground that they are still among the living, is stunned to experience just such a phenomenon. On arrival at Brookwood train station in Surrey, Violet, who has been escorting a casket on the journey, hears a bell ringing from another coffin. The bell is attached to a string within reach of the body inside, and the noise prompts her companion to undo the lid, which reveals a disoriented but very much alive man, whose first word is “havfindabang.” That bizarre occurrence proves to be the first of several. Murder soon follows. Trent nicely integrates the Debtors Act of 1869 into the plot, though the dogged, feisty lead unconvincingly bites off more than she can chew. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Lady of Ashes

"A vibrant story."
—Toronto Star

"Rich with historical incidents and details."
—Publishers Weekly

"A book you can sink your teeth into, with characters you’ll fall in love with."
—Mystery Scene Magazine

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
Victorian undertaker Violet Harper is not prepared for bodies to rise from the dead. Always skeptical of the newfangled fad of safety coffins—equipped with literal bells and whistles the mistakenly buried person can ring—Violet reevaluates her position after several corpses turn out to be live bodies. With the help of her visiting daughter, Susanna, she investigates her own profession with unsettling results in this thrilling fourth installment (after 2014's Stolen Remains).

Library Journal

2015-01-20
The peculiar Victorian fascination with all aspects of death causes an undertaker to ponder the good and bad features of safety coffins. Undertaker Violet Harper does not use safety coffins herself, but her interest in them is sparked by an incident en route to a funeral at suburban Brookwood Cemetery on the London Necropolis Railway. As she waits on the platform for the arrival of the coffin for the funeral she is to supervise, she hears a safety bell suddenly ring on one of the coffins. Opening it discloses a confused but clearly living man who's quickly taken away by a physician who has offices nearby. Violet is shocked, but when the same thing happens a second time, she grows suspicious, and when a young woman becomes hysterical upon the arrival at Brookwood of another safety coffin containing her fiance's body—a body not prepared in any way for burial—Violet undertakes a sleuthing expedition among London undertakers with the help of her newlywed daughter, Susanna, who's visiting from Colorado with her husband, Ben. She meets varying degrees of cooperation and hostility, and Susanna meets with worse: She's attacked as the family walks home in the dark from a circus performance. So Violet goes to Scotland Yard to talk to DCI Hurst (A Virtuous Death, 2014, etc.), who agrees to look into her story even though he's not much interested in it. Every time Violet thinks she's found a solution, her theory turns out to have some flaw. All the while, her determination to find the truth puts her in grave danger. The pace is glacial, despite, or perhaps because of, the extensive and interesting exploration of Victorian mourning practices.

Kirkus Review