Grave Expectations
By Heather Redmond
In this
clever reimagining of Charles Dickens’s life, he and fiancée Kate Hogarth must
solve the murder of a spinster wearing a wedding gown ...
London, June 1835:
In the interest of being a good neighbor, Charles checks in
on Miss Haverstock, the elderly spinster who resides in the flat above his. But
as the young journalist and his fiancée Kate ascend the stairs, they are
assaulted by the unmistakable smell of death. Upon entering the woman’s
quarters, they find her decomposing corpse propped up, adorned in a faded gown
that looks like it could have been her wedding dress, had she been married. A
murderer has set the stage. But to what purpose?
As news of an escaped convict from Coldbath Fields
reaches the couple, Charles reasonably expects the prisoner, Ned Blood, may be
responsible. But Kate suspects more personal motives, given the time and effort
in dressing the victim. When a local blacksmith is found with cut manacles in
his shop and arrested, his distraught wife begs Charles and Kate to help. At
the inquest, they are surprised to meet Miss Haverstock’s cold and haughty
foster daughter, shadowed by her miserably besotted companion. Secrets shrouded
by the old woman’s past may hold the answers to this web of mystery. But
Charles and Kate will have to risk their lives to unveil the truth.
An Author’s Inspiration
I sold my A Dickens of a
Crime series as a trilogy, based on three different novels by Charles Dickens,
who, as a brilliant young journalist in 1835, is my amateur sleuth for the
series. The first book, A Tale of Two Murders, was based on A Tale of
Two Cities, the second book, Grave Expectations, was based on Great
Expectations, and the third, Christmas Carol Murder, is based on A
Christmas Carol.
 |
| Charles Dickens |
I used Great Expectations
to give me some hints as to my Grave Expectations plot and themes. I
made choices based on a reread of this amazing classic novel. I had to have a
spinster in a wedding dress, a kindly blacksmith, some convicts running around,
and fun names like Jaggers in my mystery. It’s all there, along with classic
themes from the Dickens work like surprise revelations, the reluctance of the
dead to stay dead, how the past is unavoidable and can act like an unseen hand
guiding a life, the ambitions of children, and how one person can lift the
expectations of another then crush them.
From that, I had to decide
what interested me at the moment I plotted the story. I had just discovered I
had a Jewish grandfather born in London who I knew nothing about. I was on a
personal journey to learn more about the Jewish experience in London. That all
became intertwined in my novel as well.
 |
| Kate Hogarth. |
In Grave Expectations,
Charles Dickens has just become engaged to Kate Hogarth, and he’s taken
temporary lodgings down the street from her parents’ house in order to spend
more time with her. But all is not what it seems in the neat building in
Selwood Terrace.
Excerpt from Grave Expectations
“I will give up sleep,”
Charles said aloud.
“You will not, Mr. Dickens,”
Kate said with a giggle. “That will not serve you.”
“Why not?”
“Your mind must remain keen.”
He tickled her cheek with one
daring finger. “But I am such a fool for love. The more I do, the more I earn,
and the faster I can afford to marry you.”
“Come, fool,” she said,
standing. “We had better go upstairs. I don’t want to have to lie to Mother
about never being alone with you in your rooms. You know it isn’t proper.”
He put his hands on her shoulders.
“May I steal a kiss first?”
She tilted her cheek, leaving
him a surface for his lips.
“Only there?” he said gently.
“Is that all Mr. Dickens deserves?”
“Charles,” she whispered, her
eyes meeting his.
He grinned and rubbed his
nose against hers, then kissed the tip. “That will keep me. Your honor is as
important to me as it is to you.”
“Thank you.” Her cheeks
pinkened, and she stared at the floor.
He offered his arm with a
gentlemanly flourish. “Let us go upstairs.”
“When did you last visit Miss
Haverstock?” Kate asked, a little unsteady on her feet, as she softly took his
arm, the pressure of her fingers almost unfelt against his coat. “I admit I am
concerned, considering what Mr. Jones said. It was selfish of me not to demand
we check upstairs right away.”
“You are never selfish,
darling. Miss Haverstock uses that stick, you know, because of her bad hip.
Maybe she couldn’t rise from bed yesterday.”
He and Kate stepped into the
narrow hall between the sets of rooms. Opposite the front door to the building
was a wooden staircase spanning the width of the hall, with extremely squeaky
steps. Mrs. Haverstock was a small woman and didn’t make much noise going
upstairs or moving in her rooms, which were over Charles’s. The noise she made
was more like that of a mouse skittering than that of a full-grown person going
about the business of their day.
As they climbed the steps,
Kate having let go of his arm in order to lift her skirts slightly, he realized
he hadn’t heard the mouselike sounds in days. When had he last seen his
upstairs neighbor?
Kate glanced at him, a
pinched expression around her eyes. “What is that smell, Charles?”
“Meat that’s gone off?” he
asked, curling his lips with distaste. He’d smelled something like this before,
half a year ago, when he’d been taken to the scene of a bloody suicide.
They reached the top of the
stairs. The smell intensified. Kate coughed and pulled a handkerchief from her
sleeve and held it to her nose. “Maybe she is ill?”
Charles knew better, now that
they were at the unremarkable front door of Miss Haverstock’s rooms. “It’s
death, Kate. It can be nothing else.”
Giveaway
*Giveaway is now closed.
To celebrate the release of Grave Expectations,
Heather Redmond is giving away two paperback copies of her fabulous book
A Tale of Two
Murders
All
you need to do is answer this question:
Have you ever read a book by Charles
Dickens? If so, which one?
Giveaway Rules
• Leave your answer in the comments at the bottom of this post.
• Giveaway ends at 11:59pm BST on August 14th.
You must be 18 or older to enter.
• Giveaway is only open US Residents Only.
•Only one entry per household.
• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems;
any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and
entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
•Winners will be announced in the comments.
• Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
Pick up your copy of
Grave Expectations
Heather Redmond
Crime writer Heather Redmond
is a committed anglophile, Dickens devotee, and lover of all things nineteenth
century. She writes two mystery series, A Dickens of A Crime, featuring young
Charles Dickens in the 1830s, and a new cozy mystery series set in Seattle
which debuts in fall 2019.
