Dead End

Inspector Best #4

by Joan Lock

A beautiful young woman is found dead in a department store bed.

She’s surrounded by white roses.

Detective Best is called from London to the grey and blustery north to investigate.

After finding out the girl was involved with local spiritualists, he meets a Dead End.

Everyone seems to have a reason for killing the girl – from her maid to her fiancé who happens to be the long-lost brother to the department store owner.

But she’s not the only girl who is missing.

Will Detective Best be able to face his own painful past in order to solve the case?

'Dead End' is a gripping historical murder mystery story from acclaimed author Joan Lock.



“Gripping Victorian mystery” - Publishers Weekly on Dead Born

“Multilayered, ingeniously plotted, atmospheric and suspenseful, with an appealing hero… Lock’s latest Inspector Best novel makes outstanding reading for historical mystery buffs” - Booklist on Dead Letters

Joan Lock 's first book, 'Lady Policeman' , described her six years as a policewoman in London's West End during the 1950s. The next, 'Reluctant Nightingale' , focused on her previous training as a nurse in the Northeast. Nine non-fiction, police/crime books followed including three on Scotland Yard's First Detectives and the first history of the British Women Police, a subject on which she became an authority. This led to her writing extensively in the Police Press in support of women police when they were having a difficult time during integration and to acting as advisor and participant in the BBC4 TV documentary, A Fair One Hundred Years Of Women Police , screened in March 2015.

Joan has also written short stories, radio plays (some historical) and radio documentaries.
Her crime fiction includes one modern novel, Death In Perspective , and seven Victorian mysteries featuring the charismatic Scotland Yard Detective Ernest Best.

Genres: Historical Mystery

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ex-policewoman JOAN LOCK is the author of non-fiction books and crime novels. She has been a regular contributor to the police press and the journal of the Crime Writers' Association. She has also written short stories, radio plays and radio documentaries. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Kim Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't realised then I started reading this that it wasn't the first in the series. However, there is enough information given to allow one to pick up the history of the intrepid inspector, so I didn't feel I had missed out on too much. The story in itself is a stand-alone one and was rather good. I certainly didn't see the ending or indeed the perpetrator(s). The main problem I had was in the geography. I just could not picture Newcastle in the 1880's, even though the author gave quite good descriptions. That being said it didn't really spoil the story for me. I shall certainly read another.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1880. Inspector Best is sent to Newcastle-on-Tyne to lead the investigation into a missing female - Phoebe Threapleton. Daughter of business man Sir George. Only to find upon his arrival that she has been found dead, in the Bed Department of Bainbridge store. But she was not the first girl to go missing recently.
An enjoyable mystery

[Bonnye Reed]

MyNextRead Complimentary copy