Sabrina's Teardrop by Leslie Scase

 

260 pages

You can buy Sabrina's Teardrop...Here

You can follow Leslie's facebook page...Here

You can follow publishers "Seren"...Here

You can follow Crime Cymru...Here

• The Blurb...

The third volume of the Inspector Chard series takes Chard back to his native Shrewsbury, revealing the circumstances under which he left for South Wales so abruptly. Now under arrest for a horrific double murder, and Imprisoned in the notorious Shrewsbury gaol, he must fight to clear his name or face execution.

A missing woman, human trafficking, trade-offs, foul play, scheming and brutal Victorian gentlemen, civic corruption, and a gang of “Peaky Blinders” stand between Chard and proving his innocence. With the help of faithful Constable Idris Morgan and May Roper, Chard must be more resourceful than he has ever been, and he must also find the answer to the riddle of Sabrina's Teardrop, the fabulous sapphire which sits at the centre of events.

As tensions rise, can Chard and his associates solve the mystery before it's too late?

Leslie Scase takes us back to a time and place where, despite the pretensions of Victorian society, life is cheap and passions strong. He brings Victorian Shrewsbury vividly to life in this page-turning adventure that keeps you guessing until the final page.

• Our Review...

Two party girls sneaking off to a side room to do a bit of 'Charlie.'

Match fixing betting scandals.

Young innocent girls being trafficked for sex across international borders.

Is this an entry from Prince Andrew's diary? No it's Leslie Scase's Victorian Britain, in this case Shrewsbury in 1895. It is this that elevates Scase's period drama. The more things change, the more they stay the same. As always wonderfully researched, the era and the town itself are just as much the stars of the show as Inspector Chard.

In this third outing for Inspector Chard, the author delivers another fast paced, thrilling romp through the criminal underworld of Victorian Society, including the forerunners of the infamous peaky blinders. Fans of the series will be in for a treat as the main characters grow and develop away from the centre of the previous books set in Pontypridd. Chard in particular becomes a more rounded and nuanced figure than his 'Dudley Do Right' persona in the first two books. We learn of his dodgy past and by the end of the twisty plot he does things that we never thought him capable of doing. 

His sidekicks, the mutton chopped PC Idris Morgan and the recovering addict May also develop in this episode. They are becoming more of a team. Idris tough, honest and not the sharpest and May becoming ever more resourceful and brave as she recovers. There's even a lovable non fighting, fighting introduced to the team.

The inclusion of some of the authors research notes and a map are an added bonus.

Well plotted, well researched, enjoyable characters another triumph for the Inspector Chard Series.

Leslie Scase is an active member of Crime Cymru. A collective of crime fiction authors with links to Wales. Many of these books have been reviewed on this website. 

• Selected Quotes...

"Indeed, everyone laughed laughed as a half dozen small mongrel puppies scampered out onto the flagstones.

Y'see in good old Birmingham we train our dogs with these not rats. It saves chucking the unwanted ones into the canals and slowing down the barges."

"I gave Adam some tonic during the night, perhaps a little too much. I was so tired. Then this morning he wouldn't eat or drink for that matter. He just slept, so I let him be. He just lay there all day." She sobbed and lowered the glass away from her throat"

Slowly, Chard turned towards him, moving Tilly's body as he did, and revealing her ravaged face. "He's taken her eye."

• If You Liked This, Then You May Like...

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Victorian Murders by Jan Bondeson

The Malvern Murders by Kerry Tombs

• About The Author

Leslie Scase is the Shropshire-based author of  the Inspector Chard Mysteries, crime thrillers set in the heyday of Victorian Britain. The first novel Fortuna’s Deadly Shadow was published in 2020. The second, Fatal Solution, was published in May 2021. Sabrina’s Teardrop, a thriller set mainly in Shropshire and Birmingham was published on 10th October 2022. An advocate of the ‘classic’ murder mystery genre, Leslie is also a keen historian, which is reflected in the authenticity of his novels.

Born and educated in South Wales, Leslie worked in local industry before travelling widely across the UK during a career in the Civil Service. His first novel was inspired in part by his Italian and English ancestors having settled in South Wales in the late nineteenth century. A keen fly fisherman and real ale enthusiast, he lives close to the Welsh border, in the county town of Shrewsbury.