£4.99 – £9.99
December 1929, and back-room journalist Charlotte Blood is sent to the isolated Ravenswick Abbey in the wilds of Dartmoor to investigate the murder of the heir to the Ravenswick fortune. She faces a locked room mystery like no other, a crime impossible to solve. Almost a year ago, on New Year’s Eve, nine members of the Ravenswick household stepped into a vast, ornate lift installed for the ailing head of the family, Lord Ravenswick. Only eight people stepped out. It is an impossible locked lift mystery that a year on, no one has solved. Charlotte Blood must unravel the mystery and with it the terrible truth behind the family. Her search will not only lead her down a dangerous path, it will reveal some of the dark secrets that lurk in her own life…
“Steeped in grief and darkness, Charlotte Blood is a compelling heroine. Deliciously dark and gorgeously gothic, Dowd’s twist-filled puzzle positively drips with menace.”
– Antony Johnston New York Times bestselling author of Atomic Blonde
“Historical crime doesn’t get much better than this – a vivid world, characters that leap off the page, all wrapped up in a delicious whodunnit. Just fabulous.”
– Jonathon Whitelaw, author of The Bingo Hall Detectives
“I adored this fantastic first book in the new series by Victoria Dowd. I raced through Death in the Aviary in a matter of days and was gripped all the way to the fiendishly-clever reveal. Dowd’s characters leap off the page, and her humourous touch makes Death in the Aviary not just a superbly-clever puzzle but also a thoroughly entertaining read. With this brilliant innovation on the “locked room mystery”, Dowd firmly establishes herself as the modern queen of “golden age” detective fiction. I cannot wait to read the next instalment of Charlotte Blood’s adventures.”
– Phillipa East, author of Dagger short-listed Little White Lies
“Utterly brilliant. Victoria Dowd proves yet again that she’s in the top tier of mystery fiction writers, with wit, a fabulous puzzle, and the odd frisson of spookiness.”
– Tom Mead, author of Death of the Conjuror
“Fun, touching and really exciting.”
– Barbara Nadel, author of the BBC’s The Turkish Detective
“Victoria Dowd’s brilliant evocation of ‘Golden Age’ crime with her ‘locked lift’ mystery wonderfully captures the spirit of the age without ever reading as pastiche. Certainly, I detected echoes of the ‘queens’ of the genre, especially the aristo vibe of a certain Miss Sayers (although also the ‘whimsy’ of a certain Mr Waugh) but Death in the Aviary remains very much Ms Dowd’s book, not simply a celebration but a compelling and ingenious reimagining very much on her own terms. A very bright beginning for Miss Blood!”
– Tom Benjamin, author of the Daniel Leicester series
“Charlotte Blood is a wonderful new heroine set to take the world of detection by storm. Feisty, intelligent, and deeply sensitive, she jumps off the page in a beautifully written, terrifyingly atmospheric gothic page turner, that keeps you guessing to the very last line. Family feuds, hidden secrets, windswept moors and talking ravens, an irresistible combination!”
– Sam Blake, author of Three Little Birds
