- Published: 15 June 2009
- ISBN: 9780099539483
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $19.99
The Widow's Secret
Bella Wallis Mystery
- Published: 15 June 2009
- ISBN: 9780099539483
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $19.99
Thompson specialises in sharp, elliptical dialogue and brisk little glances into the murk that rises beyond Bella's window
D. J. Taylor, Guardian
Brian Thompson writes well and there's a rich vein of humour
Daily Mail
The Widow's Secret drops us headfirst into the realm of 19th-century sensation fiction - the lurid stuff of Wilkie Collins and old-fashioned penny dreadfuls. Although Brian Thompson is best known for his recent memoirs he's equally convincing on murder, mystery and the Victorians. As the curtain-raiser for a new detective series, this novel is a bold beginning. Thompson is clearly having the time of his life here. He revels in the vigilante justice, ribald talk and Dickensian grotesques at his disposal
Sunday Telegraph
A neo-Victorian yarn that rattles on merrily and rings true. We are told that more instalments of Bella's exploits are on the way. Let them come, say I
John Sutherland, Financial Times
Entertaining, indeed dazzling. Dickensian in its humour, its vivid evocation of a criminal underworld, and the poverty and filth of the Victorian city
Times Literary Supplement
A glorious heroine
John Harvey