The Quincunx: The Clothiers

Book excerpt: Thieves, mansions and murders... no one can be trusted in this classic historical mystery The tangled threads of family conspiracy and dark intentions will not let John Mellamphy rest. Seeking help from Henry Bellringer, a relation of a school friend, he instead finds himself in a nest of thieves. Reading his mother's journal, with tantalising details of his parentage, his grandfather's murder and his deadly legacy, John finally discovers a terrible truth that could mean his death. But when John finally escapes the gang and a kindly household takes him in, their intentions may not be entirely altruistic... The third part of the bestselling classic, The Quincunx, is perfect for fans of C.S. Quinn, M.J. Carter or Alex Grecian. Praise for The Quincunx ‘Grips like steel... it’s a book to make you miss your stop on the bus or the train, keep you up at night and wake you early... a formidable achievement’ Kaleidoscope, BBC Radio 4 ‘His brilliant and entertaining pastiche of the mid-nineteenth-century novel’ The Times ‘A brilliant and deeply eccentric attempt to reproduce an early Victorian novel...it combines massive scope with minute detail – there is a cast of thousands, but every figure is lovingly painted. The plot is so thick the spoon stands up in it, and by the end, the reader has toured the whole of late Regency society... Magnificent – gripping and beautifully written; the sort of book that sends you into a trance of pleasure’ Independent ‘Charles Palliser has realised a world that can almost be smelt and tasted as it pours off the page of this gripping, extraordinary novel’ Daily Telegraph ‘His plot is of an intricacy that Wilkie Collins himself might have envied... an astonishing achievement’ Scotsman The Quincunx The Huffams The Mompessons The Clothiers The Palphramonds The Maliphants