Read this exclusive guest post from Susanna Calkins about 17th-century murder ballads, and then make sure you're signed in and comment for a chance to win a copy of Susanna's book, A Death Along the River Fleet! The murders in my Lucy Campion mysteries are largely described through ballads, broadsides, and other penny pieces, which…
Susanna Calkins, author of A Death Along the River Fleet, and Duane Swierczynski have known each other for a long time. Duane's latest thriller, Canary, has been nominated for an Edgar Award for “Best Novel.” In addition to Susanna's sparkling review of an old friend's work, Ms. Calkins got a chance to sit down with…
A Death Along the River Fleet by Susanna Calkins is the 4th book in the Lucy Campion Mystery series (Available April 12, 2016). Lucy Campion, a ladies’ maid turned printer’s apprentice in 17th-century London, is crossing Holborn Bridge over the murky waters of the River Fleet one morning when, out of the mist, she sees…
Canary by Duane Swierczynski follows Sarie Holland, a freshman honors student caught up as a confidential informant, who is tasked with trying to help take down a drug ring, while keeping on top of her studies. When I opened Canary, Duane Swierczynski’s complex Edgar-nominated thriller, I had no idea what to expect. Since I had…
The Masque of a Murderer by Susanna Calkins is the third historical mystery in the Lucy Campion series set in 17th Century London (available April 14, 2015). SEE ALSO: Join Susanna Calkins for a lesson in 17th century forensics! Lucy Campion, formerly a ladies' maid in the local magistrate's household, has now found gainful employment…
An excerpt of A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate, a traditional historical mystery and the first book in the Lucy Campion series by Susanna Calkins (available April 23, 2013). For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and…
Fans of Sherlock Holmes may be intrigued to know that the first known female sleuth in England was Anne Kidderminster (nee Holmes), a seventeenth-century widow who tracked down and brought her husband’s murderer to justice thirteen years after the crime. Thomas Kidderminster was a gentleman’s son who’d been swindled out of his Hereford estate by…
