1781. An investigation into a gruesome murder on the Deptford Docks leads to a dark secret that could change the very core of British society . . .
'A page-turner of a crime thriller . . . This is a world conveyed with convincing, terrible clarity' - C. J. Sansom, bestselling author of Dissolution
Winner of the HWA Debut Crown
Winner of the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award
Blood & Sugar is the thrilling debut historical crime novel from Laura Shepherd-Robinson for fans of C. J. Sansom and Andrew Taylor.
June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock, London - horribly tortured and branded with a slaver's mark.
Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham - a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career - learns that an old friend, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He'd said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .
To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend's investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family's happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.
And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford . . .
'Epic, harrowing, thrilling, brutal, addictive' - C. J. Tudor, author of The Chalk Man
Shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger
Shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger
Longlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year
Read
Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, but read
Blood & Sugar first: a) because it's brilliant, and b) because the characters overlap. They're both murder mysteries set in a meticulously and hyper-vividly drawn 18th-century London. The first is eye-opening about slavery, the second is about prostitution, or rather the first is about race and the second is about woman. Total page-turners
