The Murder of Harriet Monckton - Softcover

Elizabeth Haynes is bliddy-well BRILLIANT. - Marian Keyes; A thoroughly absorbing whodunnit, with an unexpected conclusion. Haynes' novel is also a touching portrait of a young woman unjustly stigmatised by the prejudices of her day.- The Sunday Times; An expertly crafted slow burn of a novel, immersing you in the double standards of Victorian Bromley... Perfect autumn sofa fodder for an empty weekend. - The Pool; Fans of The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher will also like this novelisation of a real-life murder that shocked the inhabitants of a small Kentish town.- Red Magazine; The writing is exceptional: I spent much of the book in a state of visceral terror for Harriet... Haynes captures the age perfectly and she's particularly good on the precarious life of the unmarried woman, virtuous or not... the plot has a sense of completeness about it and the ending blew me away: it just seemed so right. In real life the murder might remain unsolved, but Haynes' solution is neat, realistic and entirely plausible. Perhaps the highest praise that I can give this book is to say that it won't be too long before I reread to see how it was all done. - The Bookbag

On 7th November 1843, Harriet Monckton, 23 years old and a woman of respectable parentage and religious habits, is found murdered in the privy behind the chapel she regularly attended in Bromley, Kent. The community is appalled by her death, apparently as a result of swallowing a fatal dose of prussic acid, and even more so when the surgeon reports that Harriet was around six months pregnant. Drawing on the coroner's reports and witness testimonies, Elizabeth Haynes builds a compelling picture of Harriet's final hours through the eyes of those closest to her and the last people to see her alive. Her fellow teacher and companion, her would-be fiance, her seducer, her former lover-all are suspects; each has a reason to want her dead. Brimming with lust, mistrust and guilt, The Murder of Harriet Monckton is a masterclass of suspense from one of our greatest crime writers.