Under Ground - Hardcover

by E. S. Thomson (Author)

'Immersive from the start and satisfying to the finish, a faultless tale from one of our best writers of historical crime fiction' JESS KIDD

In the darkness, her face glimmered like polished bone, white, but with a bluish tinge. Her lips were dry and cracked. I saw them move; a black tongue pass over them as if she was trying to speak, but she made no sound.

A plague is coming to London. Dreaded more than the Devil himself, cholera - the 'blue death' - spares no one. As fear grows across the city, Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain are called to the bedside of a dead man, murdered, and with his throat torn out, in the back room of a brothel. When an innocent man is taken to Newgate, Jem and Will have until execution day to save him. The search for the identity of the corpse, and the killer, takes them to the gates of Blackwater Hall, home to the secretive, and corrupt Mortmain family. With the approach of autumn, no one is safe, for the fog brings with it an evil and poisonous sickness - the perfect shroud for murder.

When family secrets are prised out into the open, people begin dying. But who, or what, is the cause? Searching for answers, Jem and Will are driven underground, to the passages and tunnels beneath the city's teeming streets. Here, their adversary proves to be more elusive, and more deadly, than ever.

PRAISE FOR UNDER GROUND

'From the outset every image, every metaphor and simile reflects the central themes of corruption and disease, poverty and decadence.The plot is complex and substantial and the final denouement has a feeling of perfect inevitability' ALIS HAWKINS

'I LOVED it. Fantastic characters - I never guessed! So good ... Underground is brilliantly steeped in the lore of Victorian London, i couldn't take my eyes off it!' SARA SHERIDAN

'Immersive'SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

PRAISE FOR E.S.THOMSON

'Another gripping page-turner, add Nightshade to your reading list now.' Edinburgh Evening News

'Vivid, pungent and perilous' CHRIS BROOKMYRE on Beloved Poison

'Evocative...brilliant plotting' REBECCA GRIFFITHS on Beloved Poison

'A dark gripping atmospheric thriller' Dundee Courier on Nightshade

'Superb' Sunday Express

'Gothic. Gory. Glorious . . . E. S. Thompson's Jem Flockhart books are the best I've read in years. Jem is just my kind of heroine: scarred, smart, complex, and unapologetically queer' Kirsty Logan, author of The Gloaming

'Love evocative descriptions of Victorian London and brilliant plotting? Then grab a copy of this!' Rebecca Griffiths, author of The Primrose Path

'Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable' Daily Express

'A marvellous, vivid book' Janet Ellis

'Jem Flockhart is a marvel . . . This vivid journey into the dark side of the human soul is a thoroughly engrossing tale' Mary Paulson Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker

Back Jacket

Praise for Under Ground

'From the choleric streets of the Fleet Ditch to the genteel surroundings of Hampstead; from the toshers making a living from scouring the mud on the Thames to a wealthy family with more than a few secrets, E. S. Thomson takes us on a rip-roaring adventure through London of the mid 1850s. Meticulously researched, magnificently atmospheric, and written with Dickensian charm, this intriguing novel proves that sometimes the best stories lie hidden under ground' Abir Mukherjee

'E. S. Thomson has done it again. A cast of vivid characters, gorgeously gritty settings and a rollicking plot, all backed up by meticulous research worn lightly. There is much to love in a Flockhart novel and Under Ground is no exception. Immersive from the start and satisfying to the finish, a faultless tale from one of our best writers of historical crime fiction. Jess Kidd

'In this book of superlatives, the chief brilliance is its characters. It's not only the main protagonists, Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain, who delight but the familiar minor characters of Mrs Roseplucker and her enforcer Mr Jobber, and the family of the murdered man, the egregious but aptly named Mortmains. Add the Toshers of the sewers, Thimble, Fox and Badger and Under Ground abounds with satisfyingly Dickensian characters' Alis Hawkins

Author Biography

E. S. Thomson's work has been longlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger, and shortlisted for the Saltire Prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the William McIlvanney Crime Book of the Year Award. She has a PhD in the social history of medicine, and tries to fit as much medical history into her books as possible. She works as a university lecturer by day, and writes by night. Elaine lives in Edinburgh with her two sons.