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ROBIN BLAKE HUNGRY DEATH "Coroner Cragg. You think you can find out what happened at this house? You are mistaken. You can never find out." November, 1747. County Coroner Titus Cragg has been called to the scene of a gruesome slaughter at a rural farmhouse: a mother and her four children brutally murdered in their own home. Were they killed by the man who should have protected them: their husband and father? What role is played by the peculiar religious cult the family belongs to? Perhaps the mute boy who lives in the dog kennel knows the truth. Meanwhile, Titus's friend Dr Luke Fidelis is a guest of wealthy landowner and local magistrate John Blackburne at nearby Orford Hall. When a blackened but well-preserved body is discovered deep beneath Blackburne's hot-house, Cragg and Fidelis are asked to investigate. But how can they make headway when, as they soon learn, this corpse might have been in the ground for centuries? Gradually, Titus pieces together a tale of secrets, scandal and thwarted passion - and uncovers a shocking connection between the body under the hothouse and the slaughter in the farmhouse.
About the author
Robin Blake is the author of nine Cragg & Fidelis Mysteries, as well as acclaimed biographies the artists Anthony Van Dyck and George Stubbs. He has written, produced and presented extensively for radio, and been widely published as a writer on books and the arts. He lives in London.
Summary
1747. County Coroner Titus Cragg has been called to the scene of a gruesome slaughter at a rural farmhouse. Meanwhile, his friend Dr Luke Fidelis is a guest at nearby Orford Hall, where a blackened body is discovered deep beneath the hot-house. Cragg and Fidelis are asked to investigate, and uncover a shocking connection between the two cases.
