Winter of Despair by Cora Harrison

Winter of Despair by Cora Harrison ISBN-13: 9780727889126 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Severn House Publishers Released: January 7th 2020

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
November, 1853. Inspector Field has summoned his friends Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to examine a body found in an attic studio, its throat cut. Around the body lie the lacerated fragments of canvas of a painting titled A Winter of Despair.

Wilkie realizes he recognizes the victim, for he had been due to dine with him that very evening. The dead man is Edwin Milton-Hayes, one of Wilkie's brother Charley's artist friends. But what is the significance of the strange series of faceless paintings Milton-Hayes had been worked on when he died? With his own brother under suspicion of murder, Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens set out to uncover the truth.


My Review:
Winter of Despair is a mystery set in 1854 in London. Wilkie Collins and his friend Charles Dickens investigated the murder along with a maid named Sesina. Sesina thinks that she's very clever and so created false clues for Inspector Field because she felt sorry for his chief suspect, Charlie Collins. However, all three were more interested in protecting people than in revealing the truth to the Inspector (unless finding the murderer would point to someone they didn't like). The murderer was never turned into police.

The characters were interesting and well developed. Historical details about what London was like at the time were woven into the story and played a role in the mystery. While the mystery was clue-based, some clues were hidden from the reader until the very end. There was no sex. There were a few uses of bad language. While the historical details were enjoyable, the mystery did not have a satisfying ending, in my opinion.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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