About the Book
A crazed killer. A town in terror. A mystery ten years in the making…
Lady Violet Thorn’s awful Aunt Igitha has arrived uninvited and she’s wreaking havoc in the household. When Violet plucks up courage to ask her to leave, Igitha’s chilling threats are soon realised with deadly effect.
In a devastating series of events, a woman is impaled, another is hanged outside Violet’s window, and a wild beast is delivered to her house.
Violet is soon struck by the similarities between these events, and the unsolved murders committed ten years earlier by the sadistic serial killer known as the Montford Maniac. Could he have returned? Is Igitha behind the crimes? Or could there be someone even more terrifying on the prowl? The horrors have only just begun.
Format: Paperback (352 pages) Publisher: Canelo
Publication date: 18th April 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
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My Review
The Montford Maniac is the second book in the author’s Violet Thorn historical mystery series. I haven’t read the first book, The Horror of Haglin House, but I can safely say The Montford Maniac can be read as a standalone.
Those who’ve read any of the author’s previous books will be familiar with his love of quirky character names – I give you Pertinance Quail and Petunia Bottle – humorous chapter headings, puns and wordplay. His representation of the Suffolk accent, as exemplified by Lady Violet’s maid, Agnust (and no I haven’t misspelt that), you’ll find either comical or slightly irritating. Those who’ve read any of the books in the Betty Church series will know what I mean.
If, like me, this is the first Violet Thorn book you’ve read what will be new to you is that Violet has a persistent internal dialogue with two of the fictional characters from her novels: ‘lady adventuress’, Ruby Gibson and Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Havelock Hefty. They have no compunction about interrupting Violet’s thoughts, passing judgment on her actions, making what they think are helpful suggestions or even pleading with her for a different ending to the novels in which they feature. One, for instance, that doesn’t involve Hefty getting fatally stabbed with a poisoned dagger. There is little love lost between Ruby and Hefty meaning the pair engage in plenty of verbal sparring. You may find their constant interventions amusing or distracting. If the latter, follow Violet’s example and try to zone them out.
As The Montford Maniac opens Lady Violet has been unexpectedly jilted by her childhood friend and fiance, Jack Raven. There follow a number of rather grisly murders and some lucky escapes for Lady Violet, including narrowly avoiding being savaged by a panther and being chucked from the top of a lighthouse. In the process of trying to identify the culprit she discovers some useful allies but also that things are not exactly what they seem. In fact, they never were as they seemed. All rather fishy… Given the twists and turns, remarkable revelations and unexpected unmaskings [Ed: that’s enough alliterations now], if you guess what’s been going on you’ll have done better than me!
The Montford Maniac is described by the publishers as a ‘rollicking, unputdownable Victorian mystery’ and, although slightly silly at times, it’s an awful lot of fun.
My thanks to Kate at Canelo for my advance review copy.
In three words: Quirky, humorous, entertaining
Try something similar: No Life For A Lady by Hannah Dolby
About the Author
M.R.C. Kasasian was raised in Lancashire. He has had careers as varied as factory hand, wine waiter, veterinary assistant, fairground worker and dentist. He lives in Suffolk in the summer and in a village in Malta in the winter.
He is the author of two previous historical mystery series, published by Head of Zeus, including the bestselling Gower Street Detective series.
The shortlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 was announced this morning, 1st May 2024. Congratulations to the authors and publishers of the shortlisted books. Some fantastic books have made it through to this final stage.
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