The Pickwick Murders

by Heather Redmond

Overview

In a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic The Pickwick Papers, Heather Redmond’s fourth Victorian-era mystery in the Dickens of a Crime series finds a young Charles tossed into Newgate Prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and his fiancée Kate Hogarth striving to clear his name…

London, January 1836: Just weeks before the release of his first book, Charles is intrigued by an invitation to join the exclusive Lightning Club. But his initiation in a basement maze takes a wicked turn when he stumbles upon the corpse of Samuel Pickwick, the club’s president. With the victim’s blood literally on his hands, Charles is locked away in notorious Newgate Prison.

Now it’s up to Kate to keep her framed fiancé from the hangman’s noose. To solve this labyrinthine mystery, she is forced to puzzle her way through a fiendish series of baffling riddles sent to her in anonymous poison pen letters. With the help of family and friends, she must keep her wits about her to corner the real killer—before time runs out and Charles Dickens meets a dead end…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496734280
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	10/26/2021
Series:	Dickens of a Crime Series , #4
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	411,908
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Heather Redmond is the author of the Dickens of a Crime series and the Journaling Mysteries, as well as historical and contemporary romances written under the name Heather Hiestand. Though her last known British ancestor departed London in the 1920s, she is a committed anglophile, Dickens devotee, and lover of all things nineteenth century. She has lived in Illinois, California, and Texas, and now resides in a small town in Washington State with her husband and son. The president of the Columbia River Chapter of Sisters in Crime, she be found online at HeatherRedmond.com. is the author of the Dickens of a Crime series and the Journaling Mysteries, as well as historical and contemporary romances written under the name Heather Hiestand. Though her last known British ancestor departed London in the 1920s, she is a committed anglophile, Dickens devotee, and lover of all things nineteenth century. She has lived in Illinois, California, and Texas, and now resides in a small town in Washington State with her husband and son. The president of the Columbia River Chapter of Sisters in Crime, she be found online at HeatherRedmond.com.

Editorial Reviews

09/13/2021

It’s 1836 in Redmond’s droll fourth Charles Dickens mystery (after 2020’s A Christmas Carol Murder), and Charles has much to celebrate on the eve of his first book’s publication—an invitation to join the exalted Lightning Club and his impending marriage. But when Charles is discovered with bloody hands next to the body of Samuel Pickwick, the Lightning Club’s president, Charles’s intrepid fiancée, Kate Hogarth, and his stalwart brother, Fred, are certain Sir Augustus Smirke, a member of Parliament, has framed Charles to deter him from investigating Smirke’s connection to Amy Poor, a missing girl. With Charles imprisoned in Newgate Prison for murder, his friends and family must solve a series of anonymously mailed riddles to unmask the real killer before Charles hangs. Besides painting a finely detailed portrait of life in London and its social hierarchy, Redmond creates captivating sleuths in the young Charles and the valiant Kate with their sharp-eyed observations of British society and its individuals. Readers will definitely want to see more from this author. Agent: Laurie McLean, Foreword Literary. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for A Dickens of a Crime Mystery Series
 
 “Mystery fans and history buffs alike should cheer.”
—Kirkus, STARRED Review on A Tale of Two Murders
 
“One of the most satisfying mysteries you will read this year.” 
—Suspense Magazine on Grave Expectations
 
“A complex and highly satisfying mystery. Redmond weaves Dickensian themes—wealth and poverty, love and rejection—seamlessly throughout the story while evoking a Victorian era that feels immediate and alive. Fans of Anne Perry will love this one.”
—Dianne Freeman, author of the Countess of Harleigh Mysteries
 
“Meticulous attention to historical details and the known elements of Dickens's life . . . a complex mystery that cunningly explores how Dickens might have been inspired to write the plot of his most well-known book . . . Sharp, incisive, and delightfully twisty. I'm sure I won't be the only reader exclaiming, ‘What the Dickens?!’”
—Anna Lee Huber, bestselling author of the Lady Darby Mysteries
 
“For Dickens fans this charming little puzzler will prove a delight.”
—Booklist on A Tale of Two Murders
 
“One suspects that Mr. Dickens himself would thoroughly enjoy this literary play on his early life and sleuthing abilities. Great fun to read!”
—Catherine Lloyd, author of the Kurland St. Mary Mysteries
 
“A Tale of Two Murders is an all-over twisty read and a Dickens of a good mystery!”
—Julie Mulhern, USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders

From the Publisher

10/08/2021

Redmond's fourth "Dickens of a Crime" title (after A Christmas Carol Murder) starts with Charles Dickens as the main character, but his fiancée Kate Hogarth eventually takes the limelight when Charles is locked up in Newgate Prison as he awaits trial for murder. Kate's news of her fiancé's incarceration is followed by a mysterious letter full of literary clues; she hopes by solving them she can gain information that will prove Charles's innocence. The mystery is interspersed with Charles's accounts from jail, including visits from Kate and her father, when Charles shares his theories of who is framing him. Kate's resolve to free Charles pushes against societal restraints and she comes into her own, challenging those in her way. The time period is 1836 and the vocabulary and historical settings—including limitations on women—reflect Redmond's view of the era. There are a few references to events in previous series installments, including possible spoilers, but new readers will be able to follow the current tale. The inclusion of real historical figures (playwright Joanna Baillie; the wife of Lord Byron) is amusing. VERDICT Fans of mysteries with historical backgrounds, especially the popular Victorian period, will enjoy this latest installment.

Library Journal

2021-07-28
Charles Dickens is thrown into prison for murder. And not just any murder.

Charles, parliamentary reporter for the liberal daily Morning Chronicle, is no fan of Sir Augustus Smirke, the well-named candidate for Parliament who’s rumored to have seduced several younger women—including perhaps a maid who’s gone missing. But he can’t imagine the revenge Smirke, or someone else, will take for his less-than-flattering coverage. Receiving a letter that seems to offer him membership in the prestigious Lightning Club, Charles hastens to the club headquarters, where an initiation that requires him to escape from the 1835 version of a panic room brings him into uncomfortably close contact with Samuel Pickwick, the club’s president, whose throat has been slit. Turned over to the constabulary by Tracy Yupman, the vice president who denies ever having seen him before, Charles counts down the days to the publication of Sketches by Boz, his first book, and dreams of how he can turn his plight into a fictional account, as he languishes in Newgate Prison. Redmond’s descriptions of daily life in Newgate, based largely on the real Dickens’ account of his own much briefer visit, are appropriately grimy, reeking, and desperate, with occasional shafts of sunlight. Since Dickens is locked up, the job of identifying the conspirators who framed him for murder falls to his fiancee, Kate Hogarth, who follows a trail of anonymous letters that interweave threats against her and Charles with poetic allusions that lead her closer and closer to the answer she seeks. But the prison sequences remain the highlight here.

Excellent period flavor, a so-so puzzle, an improbable series of clues, and the usual foreshadowings of the hero’s career.

Kirkus Reviews