The Coroner's Daughter - Softcover

"What a story he tells and what a voice he uses to tell it: Abigail Lawless is a joy. This is the kind of writing that pushes you gently into a different world then holds you there until the last sentence. Just brilliant." (DONAL RYAN)

"An exceptionally good book . . . Abigail is a marvellous character, who half-inhabits a Jane Austen-like world of balls and fine clothes, yet whose real interest and talent is in science, especially forensic science . . . [she] speculates ceaselessly, and that and her humanity are what makes her such a rich and satisfying character." (C J SANSOM)

"The Coroner's Daughter starts with the best first sentence I have read in an age . . . Abigail is a wonderful heroine; fascinated by the macabre, scientifically minded and spiked with wit. Historical fiction is awash with amateur sleuths following ye olde clues but this sparkling crime novel breathes life into the genre." (Antonia Senior THE TIMES)

"The Coroner's Daughter is that rare thing, a beautifully-crafted novel that is also gripping and powerful. It’s superb." (WILLIAM RYAN, author of The Constant Soldier)

"The plot is intriguing and the father-daughter relationship honest and delightful, but it is Abigail – one of the most attractive heroines in a long time – who carries the day." (Elizabeth Buchan DAILY MAIL)

"Engaging . . . atmospheric . . . there are strong echoes of the first Benjamin Black novel . . . [a] gory blend of historical detail and fiction has resulted in a compelling second novel. The Coroner's Daughter is good old-fashioned storytelling that will keep readers turning the pages as the shadows begin to fall." (Sarah Gilmartin IRISH TIMES)

"Hughes vividly evokes the dank and often disturbing atmosphere of Dublin, 1816, and his plotting neatly upends the reader’s expectations. Best of all is young Abigail Lawless, headstrong and inconvenient in her determination to question the accepted rules of scientific investigation. I hope she’ll be back for further forensic adventures." (CHRISTOPHER FOWLER, author of the Bryant & May series)

"[Abigail] is a great character, plausible and well-drawn, in a novel full of them . . . The Coroner's Daughter briskly and efficiently sets its scene, then concentrates on telling a rattling good story . . . an enjoyable and thought-provoking novel." (Darragh McManus IRISH INDEPENDENT)

"A deeply satisfying novel, written with a poetic flair which brings time, people and place into vivid life and a compelling plot which had me cheering Abigail on even while I feared for her, her family and friends. A brilliant evocation of strange times and twisted histories." (IMOGEN ROBERTSON)

"If you like Treasure Island, and Sheridan le Fanu, and adventures in danger and cold in the Wicklow hills that end with a rescue and the heroes, wrapped in blanket, recovering with a nip of brandy in front of a roaring fire at an inn, you will like this." (BOOKS IRELAND)

'Just brilliant.' DONAL RYAN 'An exceptionally good book.' C. J. SANSOM

1816 was the year without a summer. A rare climatic event has brought frost to July, and a lingering fog casts a pall over a Dublin stirred by zealotry and civil unrest, torn between evangelical and rationalist dogma.

Amid the disquiet, a young nursemaid in a pious household conceals a pregnancy and then murders her newborn. Rumours swirl about the identity of the child’s father, but before an inquest can be held, the maid is found dead. When Abigail Lawless, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Dublin's coroner, by chance discovers a message from the maid’s seducer, she is drawn into a world of hidden meanings and deceit.

An only child, Abigail has been raised amid the books and instruments of her father’s grim profession. Pushing against the restrictions society places on a girl her age, she pursues an increasingly dangerous investigation. As she leads us through dissection rooms and dead houses, Gothic churches and elegant ballrooms, a sinister figure watches from the shadows - an individual she believes has already killed twice, and is waiting to kill again...

Determined, resourceful and intuitive, Abigail Lawless emerges as a memorable young sleuth operating at the dawn of forensic science.