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Robert Fairfax #5
A Necessary Evil
The fifth novel in the gripping Georgian mystery series chronicling the adventures of Robert Fairfax. A must-read for fans of historical crime fiction.To Bath in its Georgian heyday come colourful visitors - the grand, fortune hunters, heiresses, invalids and imposters. Among them is Colonel Sir James Delabole - wealthy, gouty and seeking to make amends for a disreputable past.When flamboyant Sir James is found poisoned, Robert Fairfax, tutor and amateur sleuth, discovers there is no shortage of suspects. To investigate, Fairfax must enter a murky world of greed, scandal and deception, and he soon finds that the elegant spa is not such a healthy place to be...
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
31 people want to read
About the author
Hannah March
12 books7 followersHannah March is a pseudonym used by the author who was born and brought up in Peterborough on the edge of the Fens and was a student on the University of East Anglia MA Course in Creative Writing under Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter. He is married and lives in Peterborough.
A pseudonym used by Tim Wilson.
Also wrote under the names T.R. Wilson and Jude Morgan.
A pseudonym used by Tim Wilson.
Also wrote under the names T.R. Wilson and Jude Morgan.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 6, 2015
This final (not that it feels final) Robert Fairfax book moved as quickly as the others. This time Robert is in Bath, teaching some rather sweet (if silly) young women French, when he falls in with a young ensign who takes him to dinner with James Delabole and his family. Delabole has brought his wife and daughter to meet his first daughter, the product of a scandalous runaway wedding that ended tragically.
He's not a very nice man, really, so it's not a big shocker -- with two heiresses and the promises of lots of money and a soft life only going to one -- that he is murdered. (Don't worry, that's part of the description on the back of the book.) The local magistrate is only too happy to allow Robert to investigate, and so, we are off.
I am a sucker for historical mysteries and this one is very well done. Throughout the series you get a real feel for Georgian times and morals. Bath, often so romantically painted, feels a bit more real, here, and the characters all feel very much of the time. The mystery itself is well written, and comes to a conclusion that is not what you expect.
He's not a very nice man, really, so it's not a big shocker -- with two heiresses and the promises of lots of money and a soft life only going to one -- that he is murdered. (Don't worry, that's part of the description on the back of the book.) The local magistrate is only too happy to allow Robert to investigate, and so, we are off.
I am a sucker for historical mysteries and this one is very well done. Throughout the series you get a real feel for Georgian times and morals. Bath, often so romantically painted, feels a bit more real, here, and the characters all feel very much of the time. The mystery itself is well written, and comes to a conclusion that is not what you expect.
Displaying 1 of 1 review