The Dungeon House

by Martin Edwards

Overview

"Readers who enjoy British procedurals will find this multidimensional, multigenerational case very satisfying." —Booklist

The magnificent Dungeon House and gardens overlook Cumbria's remote western coast with its mix of beaches, dunes, and fells, Roman ruins, and nuclear plant. Twenty years ago, the wealthy Whiteleys called it home. But not a happy one. Malcolm Whiteley had begun to disintegrate under financial and emotional pressures. He suspected various men in their social circle of being his wife's lover. After a disastrous party for the neighbours, Lysette told Malcolm their marriage was over. Sadly an old Winchester rifle he had been hiding was at hand…

Fast forward to today. Hannah Scarlett's cold case team is looking into the three-year-old disappearance of Lily Elstone whose father Gray had been Malcolm's accountant. The investigation coincides with yet another disappearance of a teenage girl: Shona Whiteley, daughter of Malcolm's nephew Nigel, who now lives in the Dungeon House despite its tragic history. As Hannah's team digs down into the past, doubts arise about what really happened the night Malcolm killed his wife and 16-year-old daughter Amber, then himself.

Most of the people once close to the Whiteleys still live nearby. And one Joanna Footit, and her secrets, now returns from London. While Hannah leads the complex police inquiries, it is her lover, historian Daniel Kind, who supplies Hannah with the lead that unlocks the whole. Does it come too late?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464203213
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Lake District Series , #7
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	277
Sales rank:	174,281
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Martin Edwards is the recipient of the CWA 2020 Diamond Dagger Award for sustained excellence in his crime writing career and his significant contribution to the genre. His most recent novel is GALLOWS COURT, the second book in the Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery series. His eighth and most recent Lake District Mystery is THE GIRL THEY ALL FORGOT. Martin is also a well-known crime fiction critic, and series consultant to the British Library's Crime Classics. His groundbreaking study of the genre between the wars, The Golden Age of Murder, was warmly reviewed around the world, and won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards. His The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books has been nominated for five awards. A well-known commentator on crime fiction, he has edited 37 anthologies and published diverse nonfiction books, including a study of homicide investigation, Urge to Kill. An expert on crime fiction history, he is archivist of both the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club. He was elected eighth President of the Detection Club in 2015, is current Chair of the CWA, and posts regularly to his blog, 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?'

Editorial Reviews

"Readers who enjoy British procedurals will find this multidimensional, multigenerational case very satisfying." — Booklist

From the Publisher

Two decades ago in coastal Cumbria, affluent Malcolm and Lysette Whiteley host their annual gala for friends and family at Dungeon House. Instead of joy at their party, Malcom is disheartened from his business in trouble and irate at Lysette's not very discrete affairs. Her demand for a divorce sends intoxicated Malcom over the edge; he ponders whether to include their sixteen year old daughter in his murder-suicide....Three years ago, fourteen years old Lily Elstone vanished while riding her bike. That case turned cold until yesterday; fifteen years old Shona Whiteley failed to arrive at a friend's sleepover. Cumbria Cold Case Review consultant (and retired cop) Les Bryant briefs Detective Chief Inspector Hannah Scarlett and Detective Chief Maggie Eyre on the key link between the two teen disappearances: Lily's father Gray was the accountant to Shona's infamous great Uncle Malcolm....The seventh Lake District police procedural (see The Frozen Shroud, The Serpent Pool and The Hanging Wood) is a fabulous investigation that deftly ties together a twenty-year old horrible tragedy, a cold case disappearance and a missing person's inquiry. Filled with terse suspense as Scarlett fears time is running out for Shona, Martin Edwards writes a terrific mystery anchored by a deep cast desperately searching for the missing teen.

Midwest Book Review

Dungeon House, on the remote western coast of Cumbria, is a grand mansion, home to Malcolm Whiteley and his family. Malcolm has unfortunately fallen on hard times, thanks to some business reversals. His drinking is out of control, and he is sure that his lovely wife, Lysette, is having an affair, despite her denials. When Malcolm's annual party for the neighbors turns into a disaster, Lysette has had enough and tells Malcolm she's leaving. He grabs his trusty Winchester rifle and shoots her and himself. Their daughter, Amber, turns up dead in a ditch in the garden. Twenty years later, Hannah Scarlett, head of the cold-case team, is investigating the disappearance of Lily Elstone, a local teen whose father was once Malcolm's accountant. Another teenage girl, Shona Whiteley, the daughter of Malcolm's nephew, who now lives in Dungeon House, also vanishes. The connection between these cases reveals a complex network of family dysfunction and deceit. Readers who enjoy British procedurals will find this multidimensional, multigenerational case very satisfying

Booklist

Past and present... 4½ stars...Twenty years ago, in a drunken fit of jealous rage, Malcolm Whiteley shot his wife and killed his daughter before turning the gun on himself. Or did he? DCI Hannah Scarlett's old boss was never convinced, but could never find evidence to put anyone else in the frame. Now Hannah and her cold case team are re-investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl three years earlier when another girl goes missing the daughter of Nigel Whiteley, who is now living in his uncle Malcolm's old house, the Dungeon House, where the tragedy took place. Hannah begins to wonder if the three cases might be linked in some way....The first section of the book, almost a lengthy prologue, tells of the lead-up to the killings. Malcolm is convinced his wife is having an affair but doesn't know with whom. He suspects each of their friends in turn and obsessively watches their behaviour to see if he can pick up any signs. The characterisation of this successful and egotistical bully is very well done, and the reader is also introduced to some of the characters, young at the time of the killing, who will re-appear in the present day section....At this stage, I couldn't get up much empathy for any of the characters and didn't really feel invested in their fate. However, when the book jumps to the present, it becomes a very enjoyable read. Hannah is a great character - normal, intelligent, functional. Her interactions with her team are convincing, and I particularly enjoyed the glimpses we got of her relationship with Patrick, the man she is living with. Their dialogue comes over as natural and they are gloriously angst free, both being interested in each other's work and mutually supportive. Refreshing!...This section, the bulk of the book, is split between Hannah's perspective and that of Joanne Footit. Joanne had been friends with Malcolm's daughter and, traumatised after the killings, left the area. But now she's back and hoping to revive her old relationship with Nigel. The way Joanne's character is developed is very clever at first we see her only from her own perspective and then gradually Edwards lets us begin to see her through other people's eyes. She's intriguing, and as she meets up with the people she knew years before she seems to be stirring up old memories that many of them would prefer to leave buried....Edwards creates a good sense of place in the Lake District setting, both in terms of the physical location and of the people who live there. He contrasts the beauty of the scenery with the looming atomic plant at Seascale, using it to help emphasise an atmosphere of growing tension as the story progresses....The plotting is excellent on the whole and, though it goes a little over the top at the end, largely remains well within the bounds of possibility. As one might expect from Edwards, the author and editor of several books on classic crime fiction, there are echoes of the Golden Age mysteries, though brought bang up to date. The small town location means there's a limited cast of suspects and that slightly claustrophobic feeling of everyone knowing too much about their neighbours' business. There are proper clues and Hannah and her team work their way to the solution through the traditional technique of interviewing people so much more interesting (to me) than trying to work out how long it takes for blowflies to invade corpses, etc! I didn't work it out, but when the solution was given I found it credible and satisfying....Overall, well written and strongly plotted with some excellent characterisation Hannah is a detective I will enjoy meeting again. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.

NetGalley