Shades of Deception

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Un o deitlau cyfres ddirgelwch Archie Price. Walthamstow, 1902: mae Archie a'i ffrind, y Rhingyll Frank Tyrell yn ymchwilio i ddiflaniad Lilian sy'n ei harddegau, ac i ddarganfod corff Nell Redfern yn yr afon Lea. Mae Archie yn defnyddio ei sgiliau artistig i adnabod Nell, i ganfod ei stori a hanesion dioddefwyr eraill mewn cynllun sy'n ymelwa ar ddefnyddio merched ifanc.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

An Archie Price Mystery: Walthamstow, 1902: Archie and his police sergeant pal Frank Tyrell investigate the disappearance of teenager Lilian and the discovery of a corpse in the River Lea - Nell Redfern. Archie uses his artistic skills to identify Nell, track down her story and that of the other victims of a dastardly scheme to exploit young girls.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

In-stock items will be dispatched within 3 business days, usually by Royal Mail Tracked 48. For pre-orders, we’ll dispatch within 3 business days of receiving the item from our supplier.

Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography

Jacqueline was born on Anglesey and brought up in Walthamstow, where many of her stories are set. She is a retired primary school teacher, now living in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. She has published three books with Piatkus - Someone to Watch Over Me, Wrong Way Up The Slide and A Lazy Eye. This is her fifth book for Honno, which combine her love of writing with her other interests: art and social history.

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

This is the third Archie Price Edwardian Mystery and it develops the personal story of Archie (a rising portraitist who also works as an artist for the police), his dear friend Polly (a photographer) and his lively young stepdaughter Clara, who continues her mother’s ceramic work. They all become involved in helping to uncover the solutions to a series of police cases investigating the disappearance of several young women. With the help of a young lady doctor, who is a mutual friend, they manage to reconstruct the face of a murder victim found in the river, a year after her death. Thereafter, they assist the police in finding the truth of her story. The nature of life in the first few years of the twentieth century is one of challenge to the Victorian status quo, especially where women are concerned. In the character of Miss Hudson, we have a woman using both ‘feminine wiles’ and professional drive to advance her career. Major characters are suffragists, and women are seen becoming independent professionals, while the old view of women as the property of men is still powerful and frequently deadly, though some women can be as corrupt as men. There is a tender love affair developing through the book alongside the investigations, which is sensitively handled. Although the terms (like ‘white-slaving’) are of the time, the issues – sex-trafficking and child abuse – are very recognisable. Occasionally there are lapses into modern terminology and perhaps a too-modern sensibility but they are rare. The strand concerning Lilian could have been better developed but the plotting is generally well-paced, gripping and well interwoven with Archie’s and Clara’s personal stories. The world of the music hall, Edwardian London’s most popular entertainment, and the growing interest in spiritualism, which sometimes consoled and sometimes preyed on the grieving, give a rich sense of the culture of the time and also provide cover for a truly horrific villain. The landscapes of Walthamstow, the River Lea and Epping Forest are vividly realised and provide a clear setting for the action – especially in Clara’s walk along the canal and the scene in Spitalfields’ huge wholesale market hall. The chase scene through busy London streets gives an excellent sense of the new and old worlds colliding: ‘The traffic was impossible, the roads cracking under the weight of horse-driven wagons ... petrol-driven automobiles ... bicycles, pedestrians ... the occasional policeman (who) ... seemed to make matters worse ... trains thundering across the bridge in both directions.’ And, ‘Petticoat Lane ... they’ll steal your petticoat off you at this end of the street and sell it back to you at the other.’ Shades of Deception is an entertaining mystery with a good sense of period and engaging central characters who will, doubtless, have many more adventures.