Carver's Truth

London, 1871. Traveller, photographer and sometime intelligencer Adam Carver is asked by a friend from the Foreign Office to find Dolly Delaney, a West End dancing girl who has been involved with a diplomat and since disappeared.





What seems a straightforward case soon proves otherwise. Carver is discomfited to come across alluring daguerreotypes of Dolly and he seeks answers from one of her fellow dancers, the feisty Hetty Gallant. Soon, Carver and his stoical manservant Quint are drawn north to York, where they are implicated in a shocking death. The pair flee across the Channel, but soon encounter new treacheries in Berlin, the imposing and dangerous capital of the nascent Germany.



Carver's Truth is both a compelling murder mystery and a splendidly full-blooded portrait of mid-Victorian England.



Nick Rennison is a writer, editor and bookseller. His books include Sherlock Holmes: An Unauthorised Biography, Robin Hood: Myth, History, Culture, The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide and 100 Must-Read Historical Novels. He is a regular reviewer of historical fiction for both The Sunday Times and BBC History Magazine.



This is the second outing for Nick Rennison's hero, and Carver's Truth does not disappoint. The trail of the missing Dolly Delaney has danger, unexpected twists and villains aplenty. The dialogue is wonderful ... Carver's Truth is gripping escapism at its best.



With his impressive knowledge of the Victorian world, the author confects a rattling good story of political shenanigans, sexual hypocrisies - and even murder.



A richly textured, thoroughly relishable helping of ripe Victoriana



It's entertaining stuff - knowing, but never too knowing - and Rennison's love of Victorian slang reflects a broader linguistic flair



It's got the lot: mystery, murder, theft, blackmail, infamy, treachery, bandits, a beautiful maiden, heroes, villains, romance and adventure in bucket loads



Bristles with an energy and inventiveness that positively leap off the page... Readers may well be looking to spend more time in the company of Carver and Quint