One of the joys of my job with the Clarion newspaper is that every day is different. I’m lucky, when so many people have lost their jobs following the Wall Street Crash. To be a chief crime correspondent when I’m still the right side of thirty is a dream come true. And I’ve notched plenty of scoops, having been first on the scene after several bizarre murders. Some of my rivals on Fleet Street reckon I’ve made a pact with the devil. Actually, I collaborate with Rachel Savernake, which isn’t quite the same thing.

When I take part in the morning conference of the Clarion’s journalists, I’m on the alert for any story bearing Rachel’s fingerprints. She gets directly involved with mysterious murder cases and has an uncanny knack of solving puzzles that defy the finest brains at Scotland Yard – even Inspector Oakes, the smartest young detective in London. I like Oakes, he’s a Cambridge man, clever and civilised, but can’t help wondering if he’s smitten with Rachel.

Not that she’d take much notice – or would she? She can do as she pleases, having inherited a fortune from the late Judge Savernake. Most people who come across her, even those who have no idea how ruthless she can be in pursuit of her goals, regard her as cold and aloof. Few realise that she’s capable of great kindness and generosity. I’d love to know why she keeps everyone at a distance – everyone, that is, except her three devoted servants, members of the Trueman family. I say ‘servants’, but they’re more like co-conspirators. Their fierce loyalty towards Rachel is matched by their suspicion of outsiders. Cliff and Hetty are wary of me. Cliff’s sister Martha, a lovely girl whose cheek was scarred in an acid attack, is easier to talk to, and I have a very soft spot for her. She and Rachel are more like sisters than maid and mistress.

Rachel has intrigued me ever since our first encounter, at the start of an extraordinary melodrama which came to a shocking conclusion at Gallows Court. I almost lost my life, but I earned promotion to my current job, following the death of my mentor, Tom Betts.

Taking risks is part of the crime reporter’s job. One of my Fleet Street colleagues was murdered while probing murky goings-on up at Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire. I’ve faced death more than once in the course of my investigations, and found myself in a very dangerous situation during the Mortmain Hall case before Rachel came to my rescue. My attempt to save a woman’s life at Sepulchre Street in Rye almost ended in disaster when I found myself hunted by the police and security services after narrowly escaping death at the hands of a ruthless criminal. Once again, Rachel solved the various puzzles that confronted us and made sure there was a happy ending – namely, that I lived to write another day…

After a day’s work is done, I enjoy being invited to dine at Rachel’s home. Gaunt House is one of the finest mansions in London and over a cocktail prepared by Cliff Trueman, the four of us talk about mysterious murders. And I dream that one day I’ll find out exactly what they are up to.

The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge, A Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery Book #3
Genre: Historical Mystery
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge is a complexly layered mystery perfect for fans of impossible mysteries inspired by Agatha Christie. Martin Edwards pens the perfect locked-tower puzzle with a gothic edge set in 1930s Northern England.

1930: Nell Fagan is looking for a second chance at a career in investigative journalism and the call of Blackstone Fell’s sanatorium is irresistible.

In 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, Rachel Savernake

Looking for answers, Rachel travels to lonely Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. With help from her friend Jacob Flint – who’s determined to expose a fraudulent clairvoyant – Rachel will risk her life to bring an end to the disappearances at Blackstone Fell where people go in, but never come out.

Meet the author
Martin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as ‘a true master of British crime writing.’ His novels include the eight Lake District Mysteries and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge. His non-fiction includes two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime – which was one of the Spectator’s books of the year in 2022 – and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers, including the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing), two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America, and four lifetime achievement awards, for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is President of the Detection Club and consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics. He has edited over fifty anthologies and was recently commissioned to write an audio drama for Doctor Who.