The Malvern Murders (Inspector Ravenscroft Book 1)
The Malvern Murders, the first of the Ravenscroft Victorian Crime Stories, was published in 2006.
During the following five years it was followed by The Worcester Whisperers, The Ledbury Lamplighters and The Tewkesbury Tomb. The fifth Ravenscroft Victorian crime story, The Droitwich Deceivers was released in June 2012. The sixth Ravenscroft crime story, The Pershore Poisoners was released in 2014. Details of how these other books may be obtained can be found at the end of this work.
The Malvern Murders was revised in 2013.
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The Malvern Murders takes place in 1887 – the year before the infamous ‘Ripper’ murders in London – and Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft of the Whitechapel Constabulary has just failed to apprehend the murderer of a young girl. Reprimanded by his superiors, he is told to undertake a holiday cure in fashionable Malvern.
After experiencing the rigours of the Water Cure treatment at the Tudor Hydropathic establishment, he is asked to help solve the murder of a prominent local business man – and soon uncovers a world of danger and deceit beneath the surface of genteel Malvern society.
Before he can hope to solve the crime however, he must first strive to encounter the mysterious woman in black – and then survive the ancient curse of the Raggedstone Hill…
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The author, Kerry Tombs, was born in Smethwick, near Birmingham, in 1945, but grew up in various locations in north Worcestershire. After a career teaching in both England and Australia, he moved to Malvern in 1982, where he became a local genealogist, lecturer and bookseller. He moved to France in 2005, and now lives in Ludlow in Shropshire. Kerry has recently completed his autobiography Passing By, which mainly deals with his childhood in North Worcestershire in the 1950’s, and is currently editing his mother’s memoirs of her life in Smethwick between the world wars.
The Malvern Murders is set in a variety of Malvern locations including St. Ann’s Well, Malvern College, the British Camp and the Priory Church – and in the nearby villages of Colwall and Mathon, and the town of Ledbury.
