LAWLESS AND THE FLOWERS OF SIN

From the clever witty and popular Lawless series, this is first-rate Victorian crime fiction. It is 1863, and as a reluctant Inspector of Vice, Campbell Lawless undertakes a reckoning of London's houses of ill repute, a shadowy netherworld of frayed glamour and double standards, mesmerising and unspeakable by turns. From the erotic booksellers of Holywell Street to the alleys of Haymarket, he discovers backstreet cast-offs and casualties of the society bordellos, and becomes fascinated by a musician who has established a foundation for fallen women. But his inquiries draw the attention of powerful men who can be merciless in defending their reputations. Lawless must unlock the heart of a clandestine network before he too is silenced. With cast of characters in addition to the doxies, dollymops, fourpennies, zuches, jawbreakers, lushy betts, dirty salls, pineapple jacks, pimps, socialites, lords, dukes and parliamentarians. 360pp, paperback.