‘The Murderer Inside the Mirror’ by Sarah Rayne

Published by Severn House,
4 July 2024
ISBN: 978-1-4483-1095-1 (HB)

It is 1908 and the Fitzglen family is one of the best known theatrical families in London. However very few people outside the Fitzglen family are aware that they are also have a part-time career as thieves. When it comes to their ‘filches’ the Fitzglens have a firm code of conduct and they never steal from people who cannot afford to lose the object or will be badly hurt by the loss.

At the start of the story the entire Fitzglen family is distressed to hear of the death of Montague Fitzglen who had fallen down the stairs of his house. Montague was one of the senior members of the family, he was Great Uncle to Jack, the leader of the family, and to Byron, Jack’s contemporary who shares many of Jack’s more physically demanding adventures, and also to Tansy, the orphaned youngest member of the family, who has just been allowed to join their deliberations. As well as his work in the theatre Montague was also a highly skilled forger, a master of deception and a superb storyteller. He has been teaching Byron his forgery skills, but Byron is not yet as proficient as Montague. As well as the sadness of loss the Fitzglen family are anxious to discover and retrieve any evidence of their illegal activities that might be present in Montague’s house. Also, Montague had told a story about his possession of a mysterious tin box but would never tell anybody about the contents. The family is anxious to search Montague’s house to find and remove any notes he had made about the next prospective filch, the theft of a Gainsborough portrait from a country house, before anyone else discovers them, but Jack and Byron are also eager to discover the iron box. It is Jack who finds the box and when he opens it, he discovers a manuscript that seems to be an unknown play by one of Ireland’s leading playwrights, Phelan Raffety, who died five years ago. When Jack reads the first few pages he is overwhelmed by an inexplicable feeling of dread; because of this he does not immediately remove the manuscript and when he returns to do so it has disappeared.

This is a multi-viewpoint novel set in several times and in both England and Ireland. Some of the story is in the viewpoint of Ethne Rafferty, Phelan’s daughter, who still lives in Ireland in Westmeath House, the family house she had shared with her much-loved father. Ethne has always been obsessed with a portrait that has been in the house for centuries, although nobody knows who painted it or how it came to be hung in Westmeath House. The portrait is of Thomas Fitzgerald, the 10th Earl of Kildare, known as Silken Thomas, an Irish nobleman who led an abortive rebellion against Henry VIII of England. This portrait and another sketch of a young woman link several aspects of the mystery, as the third story line goes back many centuries and starts in 1534 as it traces the love affair between Thomas Fitzgerald and Catherine Ó Raifeartaigh.

Back in Edwardian London, the manuscript of the play, which is called The Murderer Inside the Mirror, resurfaces in the hands of another theatrical company who are the Fitzglens’ long term rivals. Tansy is the only member of the Fitzglen family who is not widely known, which means she has to go undercover to discover whether the manuscript is a threat to her family. Jack knows that sending Tansy into this situation is risky, but nobody anticipates how dangerous it will prove to be.

The Murderer Inside the Mirror is the second book in the series featuring the Theatre of Thieves. It is a complex multi-viewpoint novel with separate storylines that are skilfully linked and often enter dark and disturbing territory. The historical action is skilfully depicted, which is especially impressive as it involves storylines in both the sixteenth and nineteenth century, and the characters are engaging, especially Jack, Byron, Tansy and other members of the Fitzglen family. This is a darkly compelling story, which explores love, loyalty and obsession. It is a page-turner which I thoroughly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Sarah Rayne's first novel was published in 1982, and for several years she juggled writing books with working in property. Much of the inspiration for her dark psychological thrillers comes from the histories and atmospheres of old buildings, a fact that is strongly apparent in many of her settings - Mortmain House in A Dark Dividing, Twygrist Mill in Spider Light, and the Tarleton Theatre in Ghost Song. Her work has met with considerable acclaim, and is also published in America, as well as having been translated into German, Dutch, Russian and Turkish.  In 2011, she published the first of a series of ghost-themed books, featuring the Oxford don, Michael Flint, and the antiques dealer, Nell West, who made their debut in Property of a Lady. This was followed by a series featuring music researcher, Phineas Fox. Her most recent series is the Theatre of Thieves. 

www.sarahrayne.co.uk
https://sarahrayneblog.wordpress.com/
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Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013. .

Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman