“Edinburgh Twilight” by Carole Lawrence

It’s 1881. Detective Inspector Ian Hamilton of the Edinburgh Police is young, ambitious, and a constant irritant to his boss. He’s haunted by the fire that killed his parents when he was a child and almost claimed his own life as well. He has a tendency to get himself into fights and scrapes, and he often comes off the worse for wear.

And Hamilton suspects that what appears to be a suicide jumper from Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park isn’t a suicide at all. His suspicions are confirmed when it’s discovered that the victim was strangled and then likely thrown from the height. As irritating as Hamilton is to his boss, the boss also knows the detective is usually right, which makes him even more irritating.

Other victims follow; they’re almost invariably men of who frequent unsavory pubs in the slum and tenement areas of Edinburgh. It becomes clear that what the police are dealing with is a serial killer. And the killer who’s watching what the police do – and watching Hamilton. Public hysteria begins to build as the newspapers catch wind of the killer’s activities. Mobs congregate by the police station, demanding action.

Edinburgh Twilight by Carole Lawrence is a story of a race to catch a killer before he strikes again. And it’s a story of a hero trying to come to grips with his past before his past overwhelms him. 

Carole Lawrence

Lawrence is the author of 11 novels and numerous novellas, short stories, articles, and poems. Her novels, published under three names, include the “Silent” series by C.E. Lawrence and featuring New York detective Lee Campbell; the “Who Killed” series by Carole Bugge featuring New York mystery editor Claire Rawlings; and the new Ian Hamilton series. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Poetry Prize twice and won the Euphoria Poetry Prize, the Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award, the Maxim Mazumdar playwriting prize, the Jerry Jazz Musician award for short fiction, and the Chronogram Literary Fiction Award. Her second Ian Hamilton novel, Edinburgh Dusk, is scheduled for publication in September.

Edinburgh Twilight is a solid, riveting, and often creepy mystery story. Lawrence takes the reader inside the mind of her detective and inside the mind of her killer. As uncomfortable as both places often turn out to be, the reader can’t walk away from this story without examining what’s inside his own mind.

Top photograph by Linnea Sandbakk via Unsplash. Used with permission.