#ADGIFTED all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nocturne with Gaslamps by
Matthew Francis

Book Info
Genre: Mystery
Length: 224 pages
Published: September 5th 2024
Goodreads
Amazon

Cover design by Andy Barr

A historical crime fiction novel set in Victorian London’s gaslit theatre scene, where ghosts lurk in the shadows and murder takes centre stage.
Gaslight. Ghosts. Murder.
Hastings Wimbury has always dreamt of playing Hamlet, but for now he works as a theatre gas-boy. Here, he tends to a gas chandelier so powerful it creates its own weather, and limelight machines that can throw a shadow onto a wall ten miles away.
When Hastings suddenly disappears, his fiancée Flora sets out to find him with the help of Cassie, her rival in love who is more preoccupied with the ghosts terrorising the streets of London. Soon total darkness is imposed upon the city, and they realise that something far more sinister is at hand…
Ladies aren’t supposed to solve mysteries, but this is a matter of life and death.

About the Author
Matthew Francis is Professor Emeritus in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University. He read English at Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He writes novels, short stories, and poetry collections. He has won the TLS / Blackwell’s Prize for Poetry and the Southern Arts Literature Prize, and been shortlisted twice for the Forward Prize, twice for the Welsh Book of the Year Award and once for the Ted Hughes Award. In 2004, he was chosen as one of the Next Generation Poets. He is a Fellow of the Welsh Academy. Matthew lives with this wife in Aberystwyth, Wales where he enjoys playing chess, cooking and playing the ukulele.

My Review I think this is honestly my first noir styled book, and I loved the creepy Victorian theme, the dark streets lit by gaslamps, being transported back in time, you can almost smell and feel the damp, dark and smokey London. I loved finding out about the workings of lime and gaslamps while having a ghostly murder mystery too. As September started here in dark grey skies and drizzle it was the perfect timing for this book. Cassie and Flora sound like they were well ahead of their time, full of life passion and smarts which certainly wasn’t encouraged back then. Reminds me of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, loved the aspects of profiling and behaviour observation as I’m a crime fan, think Patricia Cornwell. All in all a wonderful tale,that keeps you guessing, I read it in one sitting.