The Tumbling Girl

The first in a series of historical crime novels set in a dark, glittering Victorian London, with a memorable cast of characters, a strong narrative voice, and a breakneck twist ending. Set in Victorian London, a clever, darkly funny mystery based around a music hall. The Tumbling Girl features an unlikely crime fighting duo made up of an ex boxer whose big heart is his downfall, and a streetwise young woman scraping a living at a music hall. Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook make a charismatic team and their slow burning relationship will capture readers' hearts. An entertaining romp that nevertheless touches on the darker elements around Victorian society with regards to the treatment of women and social expectations, and examines the ways in which victims of brutality and cruelty can continue the cycle. Will appeal to readers of beautifully written and evocative historical fiction from the Victorian era such as Sarah Waters, Elizabeth Macneal's The Circus of Wonders, and Stacey Halls' Mrs England. Will also appeal to fans of the TV show Miss Scarlet and the Duke. Also sits comfortably in the trend for commercially appealing and highly readable historical crime novels such as Laura Shephard-Robinson's Daughters of Night and Stuart Turton's The Devil and the Dark Water.