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The Devil in the Marshalsea

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The Devil in the Marshalsea

By: Antonia Hodgson
Narrated by: Joseph Kloska
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About this listen

WINNER OF THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD 2014.

Longlisted for the John Creasey Dagger Award for best debut crime novel of 2014.

London, 1727 - and Tom Hawkins is about to fall from his heaven of card games, brothels, and coffeehouses to the hell of a debtors' prison. The Marshalsea is a savage world of its own, with simple rules: those with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease. And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of the gaol's rutheless governor and his cronies.

The trouble is, Tom Hawkins has never been good at following rules - even simple ones. And the recent grisly murder of a debtor, Captain Roberts, has brought further terror to the gaol. While the Captain's beautiful widow cries for justice, the finger of suspicion points only one way: to the sly, enigmatic figure of Samuel Fleet.

Some call Fleet a devil, a man to avoid at all costs. But Tom Hawkins is sharing his cell. Soon, Tom's choice is clear: Get to the truth of the murder - or be the next to die.

A twisting mystery, a dazzling evocation of early 18th-Century London, The Devil in the Marshalsea is a thrilling debut novel full of intrigue and suspense.

©2014 Antonia Hodgson (P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton Crime Fiction Historical Mystery Crime Fiction Exciting Scary Murder
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I got this as recommended by Richard and Judy bookclub.
This tale is set in 1727 London and is the debut novel of Antonia Hodgson. The description is very atmospheric and listening to it as an audiobook aided the atmosphere as the eery music that went with it with its clinking and clanging was quite scary.
Tom Hawkins is his own worst enemy drawing trouble to himself. Despite this though he has an inherent decency and sense of fairness. Tom fought with his parson father leaving home seeking the company of prostitutes and alcohol, resulting in his being penniless and living on his wits in London. He builds up debts he cannot pay so will be put in a debtors prison called the Marshalsea.
As a gambler he is skilled and he manages to raise enough money to keep him out of the Marshals. He is then attacked and the money stolen so ends up in prison anyway.
I feel this novel was well researched and in prison we meet many squalid unsavoury characters some very dangerous indeed. The Head Keeper William Acton is himself a murderer allowed to choose his victims at his pleasure. The reader witnesses poverty extreme cruelty and brutality up close and personal. Money is the currency which can make or break an individual despite it being a debtors prison. The prison is divided into two sides, the Masters side where you have a chance of staying alive or the Common side where disease including Smallpox is rife and chances of dying a slow and painful death are pretty much guaranteed.
Tom is taken under the patronage of Samuel Fleet whose recent cell mate Captain Roberts was murdered. Fleet was considered the culprit. Captain Roberts wife is haunting the prison trying to get justice for her husband. Tom is offered freedom if he discovers who murdered Roberts.
As per usual there are a multitude of suspects, false clues and leads. However as well as being a murder mystery this book is historically and factually based so is for the historian also.
I enjoyed the writing and how the novel progressed. I enjoyed the ending finding it quite surprising. I think this is suitable for readers interested in murder mysteries, historical prison life, with a little period drama thrown in.

Life in a London debtors prison

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I liked the humour in the book as we'll as the historical facts.i would recommend it to anyone.the narrator was good too.

Great book

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I loved this, not highbrow but very engaging and the narrator was brilliant, his characterisation was spot on - so many characters!
No matter if you guess the answer still worth a listen!

Great story, excellent narration

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This is a very good book, great pace and very tense. The reader is also excellent. And to my surprise, it was written by a woman. By this I mean that the male characters were highly plausible to myself, unlike a great number of female writers, such as JK Rowling for example.

Great tension

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This is a very interesting historical whodunnit which describes the horror, squalor and degradation of living in the Marshalsea prison in 1727 - all that’s missing is the smell!
The story also describes the class distinction and corruption which existed then.

The characters are well-drawn, and I felt I could picture each one. I fell in love with Kitty, working as a kitchen maid, which she felt was below her station because her late father had been a doctor, but she did it to keep close to her father’s friend, Samuel Fleet, who educated her in languages and other subjects. He was lying low in the Marshalsea, having worked as a spy and gathered powerful enemies. He was the Devil in the title.

The mystery was regarding who had killed a man, whose widow was challenging the owner and the manager of the Marshalsea to identify the killer and bring him to justice. There was no process at that time for doing this, and they wanted to hide behind the fact that people died in the prison every day. The revealing of the detailed planning which led to the hero, Tom Hawkins, ultimately exposing the killers comes late in the story so I shall not give any clues here, just to say it was a satisfactory ending!

All you have to imagine is the smell!

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