The Dungeon House

By Martin Edwards

Twenty years ago, Malcolm Whiteley discovers his attractive wife Lysette is having an affair. The Whiteleys are wealthy, and live with their 16-year-old daughter Amber in the magnificent Dungeon House, overlooking Cumbria's remote western coast. But Malcolm is under financial and emotional pressure, and he begins to disintegrate psychologically, suspecting the men in their circle of being Lysette's lover. When Lysette tells Malcolm their marriage is over, he snaps, and takes out the old Winchester rifle he has been hiding from Lysette...

Back to the present day, and Hannah Scarlett's cold case team are looking into the three-year-old mystery of the disappearance of Lily Elstone, whose father was Malcolm Whiteley's accountant. Their investigation coincides with the disappearance of another teenage girl, Shona Whiteley, daughter of Malcolm's nephew Nigel. Nigel now lives in the Dungeon House, despite its tragic history. Twenty years earlier, Malcolm shot his wife and apparently killed his daughter before shooting himself. But as Hannah's team dig down into the past, doubts arise about what exactly happened at the Dungeon House twenty years ago...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allison & Busby
• Release date: Sep 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9780749019853

Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime novelist whose Lake District Mysteries have been optioned by ITV. Elected to the Detection Club in 2008, he became the first Archivist of the Club, and is also Archivist of the Crime Writers’ Association. Renowned as the leading expert on the history of Golden Age detective fiction, he won the Crimefest Mastermind Quiz three times, and possesses one of Britain’s finest collections of Golden Age novels.

Reviews for The Dungeon House

[Alan Riles · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent, and the cold case, set in Ravenglas, has a more manageable cast list that allows for a greater depth of characterisation, even to the extent of empathy with their sad stories.
Hannah almost human but still does not surrender her independence to Daniel! And old school Les Bryant portrayed more subtly than previous stereotyping, proving his worth.
Overall the series continues to suck me in, very satisfying.

[brianewilliams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent police detective story. It's got a robust plot, with a 20-year-old cold case involving a sensational murder-suicide and two recent missing person cases. All of it comes to a surprising conclusion that manages to shock. No loose ends are left for readers to wonder about. The characters are believable and speak with authentic dialogue. It's all set against the background of English coastal countryside at Cumbria, with its ever-changing weather. For me this was a standalone because I had not read any of the six other books in the series. There are hints throughout the story of an interesting backstory for the police characters, especially Hannah Scarlett, the head of the cold case team.The stage is set for a sequel, the arrival of which is eagerly anticipated.