(Inspector Webb 2)

The Welfare Of The Dead

'Victorian London is vividly brought to life...for an atmospheric picture of the period it's hard to beat' Sunday Telegraph

Lee Jackson lives in London with his partner Joanne.His first book, London Dust, was shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award.He is fascinated by the social history of Victorian London and spends much of his time on the ongoing development of his website www.victorianlondon.org

'Her arms were bare and milky-white, her hands dainty and graceful; her smile as sweet as any I have ever seen. An awful shame...' 
 
In the disreputable dance-halls and 'houses of accommodation' of 1870s London a boastful killer selects his prey.Are these random acts of malevolence or is there a connection between the terrible murders, a mysterious theft at the Abney Park Cemetery and a long-forgotten crime?Inspector Decimus Webb, newly promoted to the Detective Branch at Scotland Yard, must investigate, and quickly, to prevent another tragedy... 
 
Taking readers through the dark alleys and gaslit parlours of nineteenth-century London, Lee Jackson's second Inspector Webb novel is a suspense-filled gothic mystery with the Victorian celebration of death at its morbid heart.

(Inspector Webb 1)

A Metropolitan Murder

A gripping historical detective thriller set amongst the tunnels of underground Victorian London from the author of London Dust, a historical novel shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award, and creator of www.victorianlondon.org, the most comprehensive online source of Victorian history. A must buy for fans of Peter Ackroyd's historical fiction.

Victorian London is vividly brought to life - for an atmospheric picture of the period it's hard to beat

This is a rare and succulent piece of work

An entertaining mystery story and one that is guaranteed to keep readers on their toes throughout

Lee Jackson lives in with his partner Joanne in London and works as alibrarian at the British Library of Political and Economic Science. His first book, London Dust was nominated for the CWA Ellis Peters Historial Dagger Award. He is fascinated by the social history of Victorian London and spends much of his time on the ongoing development of his website, www.victorianlondon.org

The last train of the night pulls into the gas-lit platform of Baker Street underground station.  A young woman is found strangled, her body abandoned in a second-class carriage. The brutal 'Railway Murder' brings Inspector Decimus Webb to the newly-formed Metropolitan Line on a bleak winter's night.  His investigation leads him through the slums of Victorian London to the Holborn Refuge, a home for 'fallen women', and to Clara White, a respectable servant. But Clara has her own tragic and shameful history.  As her past is revealed, Inspector Webb must decide whether she is merely a victim of circumstance, or a prime suspect. Only then can he unearth a dark secret, hidden in the depths of underground London. Lee Jackson's second novel brilliantly recreates the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian London, taking readers on a suspense-filled journey through its criminal underworld.

London Dust

A startlingly well written debut - a murder mystery set in Victorian London, in the bestselling tradition of Sarah Walters

Lee Jackson trained as a librarian and has worked in various London legal colleges. He lives in London.

A young woman, Natalie Meadows, jumps from Blackfriars Bridge, escaping from the horror she has just witnessed.  But she is rescued and feels duty-bound to find out who murdered her best friend, the music hall star Nellie Warwick, and why. Natalie reinvents herself as Flora Thorne and finds a position as housemaid to the Reverend Wallace and his daughter.  From the sanctuary of their home, she is able to investigate the circumstances of Nellie's murder.  What she uncovers is a conspiracy of silence and corruption, and of unscrupulous men preying on women like herself and Nellie.  Her attempts to unmask the killer and to bring him to justice exact a heavy price on Natalie. LONDON DUST is a powerful evocation of the underbelly of Victorian London, full of flavour, completely convincing and utterly gripping.

Lee Jackson

Jackson's series is the best of current Victorian mysteries

Victorian London is brought vividly to life from the very beginning... plenty of wry humour ...and engrossing historical detail

'Lee Jackson's Dickensian style of narrative gives and authentic Victorian voice to A Metropolitan Murder... Once again Mr. Jackson has succeeded in creating the atmosphere of nineteenth-century London, with its respectable veneer hiding a vicious underworld'

'Full of power and substance London Dust... is a powerful and evocative novel that brings the past, and its dead, to life again'

(Inspector Webb 3)

A sinister figure stalks the gas-lit groves of Cremorne Gardens, the last pleasure-ground on the banks of the Thames. His weapon, a sharp pair of scissors. His victims, young women in the first bloom of youth. HIs crime - merely to remove a lock of their hair. Inspector Decimus Webb of Scotland Yard suspects a harmless lunatic is at large. But when morbid obsession turns to murder, even Webb's loyal sergeant begins to doubt his judgement. 
 
As the press and his superiors clamour for answers, Webb's investigations lead him to Rose Perfitt, aspiring debutante and daughter of a respectable stock-broker. Will she fall prey to 'The Cutter' or does a worse fate beckon? One thing is certain - only Decimus Webb can save her. 
 
Lee Jackson's third Inspector Webb novel takes the reader into the forgotten world of the Victorian pleasure-garden, in a gripping mystery of garish gas-light and dark secrets.

Lee Jackson

Praise for The Last Pleasure Garden

Jackson's series is the best of current Victorian mysteries

Victorian London is brought vividly to life from the very beginning... plenty of wry humour ...and engrossing historical detail

'Lee Jackson's Dickensian style of narrative gives and authentic Victorian voice to A Metropolitan Murder... Once again Mr. Jackson has succeeded in creating the atmosphere of nineteenth-century London, with ...

Jackson's series is the best of current Victorian mysteries

Victorian London is brought vividly to life from the very beginning... plenty of wry humour ...and engrossing historical detail

'Lee Jackson's Dickensian style of narrative gives and authentic Victorian voice to A Metropolitan Murder... Once again Mr. Jackson has succeeded in creating the atmosphere of nineteenth-century London, with ...

Jackson's series is the best of current Victorian mysteries

Victorian London is brought vividly to life from the very beginning... plenty of wry humour ...and engrossing historical detail

'Lee Jackson's Dickensian style of narrative gives and authentic Victorian voice to A Metropolitan Murder... Once again Mr. Jackson has succeeded in creating the atmosphere of nineteenth-century London, with ...

Books by Lee Jackson

Series by Lee Jackson

Inspector Webb

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter