A CAPTIVATING HISTORICAL MURDER MYSTERY SET IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND This is a revised and updated edition of THE MALVERN MURDERS. Before Jack the Ripper terrorized London, patrolled the grimy streets of Whitechapel - but he's no Inspector Abberline. Clever and hard-working, Ravenscroft nonetheless has the worst record in the force. He lets a murderer escape during a chase and is banished to for a water treatment to cure his asthma. Ravenscroft accepts a dinner invitation from a new acquaintance, Jabez Pitzer. Before the dinner gong can sound, the maid finds Pitzer . Ravenscroft sees two glasses on a small side table. One has a powdery residue at the bottom and . But the local authorities are reluctant to believe there is a murderer in Malvern. He may be recovering his strength, but Ravenscroft has all his wits intact. He finds himself pulled into the investigation. Hungry to prove himself, Ravenscroft is determined to solve the case. But the bodies mount up. Someone is killing local luminaries. A mysterious woman in black was witnessed speaking to each of the victims. Who is she and And does a local cartel of businessmen have anything to do with it? THE MALVERN MURDERS is packed with delicious dialogue, sly humour and Victorian atmosphere. Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft, unmarried and over forty, is a detective in the Whitechapel branch of the Metropolitan Police. Painfully asthmatic, he is often overlooked by his superiors in favour of his pushier colleagues. But Ravenscroft is keen to prove himself and strives to overcome his physical limitations. His tools are forthright questioning, close examination of the evidence and personal intuition. He often finds that the solution to many crimes is buried deep in the past. With his trusty Bradshaw, Ravenscroft and his colleague Constable Tom Crabb, travel around the Three Counties, overlooked by the Malvern Hills, bringing criminals to justice. was born near Birmingham, but grew up in various locations in north Worcestershire. After a career teaching in both England and Australia, he moved to Malvern in 1982, where he became a local genealogist, lecturer and bookseller. "I found this story very and hard to put down." Berys " " Delin " in the series. The author kept you guessing the entire time." Jerry Book 1: The Malvern Murders Book 2: The Worcester Whisperers Book 3: The Ledbury Lamplighters Book 4: The Tewkesbury Tomb* Book 5: The Droitwich Deceivers* Book 6: The Pershore Poisoners* Book 7: The Upton Undertakers* Book 8: The Herefordshire Hangman* Book 9: The Bromsgrove Bookseller* * Coming soon