London, September 1878

I begin every morning by standing here on the dock behind the Wapping River Police Station, watching the boat traffic on the Thames because it’s usually a good indication of how the day will unfold. My old superintendent, Blair, had the same routine, and though I won’t pursue all his practices—such as covering up a murder by one of his constables, for which he was tried and convicted last month—this is one of his habits that, as acting superintendent, I’ve adopted for my own.

The wooden boards under my feet are soft with years of drenching, and the river’s ebb current, rushing toward the North Sea twenty miles east, thrums under the soles of my boots. The wind whips from upriver, tugging at my overcoat, and I grasp the brim of my hat as I look downstream to Tunnel Pier, across the river to the wharves and stairs of Lambeth and Southwark, and upstream to Custom House, with a fleet of masted ships already massing nearby.

In front of me are dozens of vessels – too many for safety. An iron-hulled collier barrels down the middle of the river, its bulk draping a fifty-foot shadow over the water, its white-crested wake rocking the small lighters and tugboats and breaking upon the prow of a barge heading upriver, which gives a shrill whistle of warning to a second, smaller barge coming down. The men aboard shout and throw obscene gestures as they dodge each other, passing starboard to starboard, which is against the law.

I shake my head. This doesn’t bode well.

The river has troubled me and yet beckoned for as long as I can remember. Growing up near the Thames, my very pulse became attuned to its waves, my days to its ebb and flow. As a child, with other mud-larkers, I scrounged alongside the river, twice a day, after the receding tide deposited bits of coal, metal, wood, and other usable detritus onto its banks. As a young man, I worked on the docks, loading and unloading lighter boats full of tea, coffee, textiles, wine, and such, maneuvering the goods onto carts and into the warehouses. Later, I became a lighterman, ferrying goods back and forth between the wharf and the moored ships. And now? I survey the river and hope to God there are no crashes today.

I turn and head toward the back door of the station. Halfway up the pier I see Sergeant Lipp. He lumbers toward me, his brow creased by a frown.

“Begging your pardon, Corravan . . . sir,” he says, tacking the last word on belatedly.

I pretend not to notice. He knew me for four years in uniform, and I am not used to my new rank either. “What is it, Lipp?”

He tips his head in the direction of the south shore. “A dead body, over at East Lane Stairs.”

In Southwark. A borough as crime infested as any on this side of the river.

“Murder or accident?” I ask.

“Couldn’t say.” He hesitates. “Who’d you like to send?”

“I’ll go,” I reply and follow Lipp into the division to find two constables to row me over in one of the twenty-seven-foot open galleys the River Police have always used.

Some weeks from now, I will realize that this dead body was only the beginning, a single harbinger of the deaths yet to come. I will wish desperately that I could have seen into the future, to a moonlit evening two days hence, so I might have prevented the small wooden pleasure steamer, the Princess Alice, from being rammed by the Bywell Castle, a 900-ton iron-hulled coal ship. I might have kept the steamer from shearing apart and dumping 650 passengers into the cold waters of the Thames. And no one ever would have heard the screams and then the silence as 500 drowned in that dark water, their names unknown because there are no passenger manifests on pleasure steamers.

But that sort of foresight is the stuff of myths and legends.

This morning, I have no idea about this impending tragedy. I have only one dead body, on the stairs, across the busy river.

Still, it’s hardly an auspicious beginning to my day.

Under A Veiled Moon, An Inspector Corravan Mystery #2
Genre: Historical
Release: October 2022
Purchase Link

In the tradition of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, a fatal disaster on the Thames and a roiling political conflict set the stage for Karen Odden’s second Inspector Corravan historical mystery.

September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule.

For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion, and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.

Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.

As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.

About the author
Karen received her Ph.D. in English from New York University, writing her dissertation on Victorian literature and history, and all her novels are set in 1870s London. Her first mystery, A Lady in the Smoke, was a USA Today bestseller, and A Dangerous Duet and A Trace of Deceit have won awards for historical mystery and historical fiction. Down a Dark River, set in 1878, introduced readers to Inspector Michael Corravan, a former thief and bare-knuckles boxer who becomes an investigator at Scotland Yard. The sequel, Under a Veiled Moon, is available in hardback, e-book, and audiobook on October 11, 2022. Karen is a board member of Sisters in Crime and has given numerous writing workshops nationally. Visit karenodden.com to connect and to subscribe to her newsletter (published every 6 weeks; it won’t clog your inbox).

Giveaway: Karen will give away an e-book or a signed hardback copy of Under a Veiled Moon to one of the commenters, chosen at random. To enter, please leave a comment below. One entry per person. The giveaway ends October 16, 2022. Good luck everyone! 

All comments are welcomed.