‘In At The Death’ by Judith Cutler

Published by Severn House,
7 January 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-4483-1347-1

Harriet and Matthew Rowsley are the housekeeper and land agent for the Thorncroft Estate in Shropshire, but their roles are far wider reaching and complex than other housekeepers and agents. The owner of the estate, Lord Croft, is unable to undertake any of the traditional roles expected of a man of his birth and wealth because a dissolute youth has led to him contracting syphilis, which has severely damaged him physically and has caused him to become insane. He now resides in a wing of Thorncroft House which is known as the Family wing and is, in reality, a well-equipped hospital with round-the clock nursing staff. It has guards posted, so that Lord Croft cannot escape unsupervised and cause harm to himself or others. The Family wing also provides nursing care for any members of the household who are unwell or infirm and serves this function for local villagers who need medical help.

The management of the house and estate is overseen by a board of trustees, which includes Harriet and Matthew, as well as Montgomery Wilson, a Shrewsbury solicitor, and four respected local residents. However, everyday decisions are left to Matthew and Harriet who have to juggle their status as servants with acting as host and hostess when visitors are staying at Thorncroft House.

While digging the foundations for a new model village to provide the villagers with hygienic, well-built homes, several valuable archaeological artefacts were discovered. Now Harriet, Matthew and Wilson are staying in Oxford to attend the ceremony in which the chief archaeologist, Sir Francis Palmer, displays the treasures to the academic community. Harriet is enjoying this occasion and the opportunity to mingle with such interesting, well-informed people, and she is filled with joy when she encounters a dear friend whom she has not seen for many years. Lord Halesowen is now a county court judge but he has not forgotten Harriet and is delighted to meet her again.

Although the three trustees are scheduled to stay in Oxford for several days to discuss which academic institution could best care for the treasures they have unearthed, Wilson is torn between two conflicting duties. As Lord Croft is unable to produce a legitimate heir, for some time Wilson has been searching for a successor for when his lordship dies, now an American heir, Mr Claude Baker, has turned up in England and is demanding that Wilson makes himself available immediately. Wilson is unsure whether he should obey Baker’s summons or stay in Oxford to help decide the disposal of the archaeological treasures, but his companions persuade him that his skills are needed to oversee the negotiations, and the importunate heir can wait a few more days. However, a few days a summons arrives that none of them can refuse. The village constable sends them a telegraph informing them of the discovery of a body in the grounds of the Thorncroft Estate; the body has been beheaded and mutilated.

There now follows a period of great strain for Harriet. Mr Baker turns up unannounced and, although superficially charming, he soon reveals himself to be arrogant and opinionated, and Harriet suspects that he regards the servants with the same contempt that he treats his slaves on his plantation in America. He seems eager for Lord Croft to die, resentful of any money that the trustees spend, and furious when Harriet wears some valuable jewellery that had been bequeathed to her by the late Lady Croft, the present lord’s mother. Harriet fears that when Baker inherits the title and the Thorncroft estate, he will sell it and all the art works it contains and return to America, leaving the staff and villagers homeless and, in many cases, jobless as well.

To add to the stress, the police sergeant who is sent to investigate the murder is a buffoon, clearly out of his depth, and the Scotland Yard officer who later arrives is an arrogant bully. Worst of all, Harriet inadvertently glimpses the dead man’s head, which the police have recovered and stored in the estate’s icehouse. She recognises him at once as a figure from her past. She realises that a long-suppressed nightmare has become reality and knows that those with power will do anything to save this man’s reputation, even conniving at her imprisonment on a false charge.

In At The Death is the sixth novel in the series featuring Harriet and Matthew Rowsley. It is an excellent addition to an interesting Victorian mystery series. The characters are vividly drawn and engaging, the plot complex and the historical setting unusual and fascinating. A very good read, which I recommend.
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Reviewer:  Carol Westron

Judith Cutler was born in the Black Country, just outside Birmingham, later moving to the Birmingham suburb of Harborne. Judith started writing while she was at the then Oldbury Grammar School, winning the Critical Quarterly Short Story prize with the second story she wrote. She subsequently read English at university. It was an attack of chickenpox caught from her son that kick-started her writing career. One way of dealing with the itch was to hold a pencil in one hand, a block of paper in the other - and so she wrote her first novel. This eventually appeared in a much-revised version as Coming Alive, published by Severn House. Judith has seven series. The first two featured amateur sleuth Sophie Rivers (10 books) and Detective Sergeant Kate Power (6 Books). Then came Josie Wells, a middle-aged woman with a quick tongue, and a love of good food, there are two books, The Food Detective and The Chinese Takeout. The Lina Townsend books are set in the world of antiques and there are seven books in this series. There are three books featuring Tobias Campion set in the Regency period, and her series featuring Chief Superintendent Fran Harman (6 books), and Jodie Welsh, Rector’s wife and amateur sleuth. Her more recently a series feature a head teacher Jane Cowan (3 books). Judith has also written three standalone’s Staging Death, Scar Tissue, and Death In Elysium. Her new series is set in Victorian times featuring Matthew Rowsley. Death’s Long Shadow is the third book in this series.

http://www.judithcutler.com

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. 

www.carolwestron.com