Blood & Sugar

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What to expect

Blood & Sugar is the thrilling debut historical crime story from Laura Shepherd-Robinson.

June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock – horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark.

Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham – a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career – is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .

To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend’s investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family’s happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.

And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford . . .

Critics Review

Laura Shepherd-Robinson has written a story that is not only a page-turner of a thriller but, to an extent unusual in historical novels, where you feel you really are listening to a voice from the eighteenth century. This is a world conveyed with convincing, terrible clarity’
C. J. Sansom
A novel of astonishing skill
Financial Times
A tightly plotted crime story with vivid details of Georgian England
Sunday Times
Stunning . . . Blood & Sugar is a harrowing and brutal epic [that] shocks and thrills in equal measure
Express
A striking historical thriller . . . Few first novels are as accomplished as this
Andrew Taylor, author of The Ashes of London
Epic, harrowing, thrilling, brutal, addictive. I read it flat out in one day
C. J. Tudor, author of The Chalk Man
Magnificent . . . A tense and gripping historical thriller that shines an unwavering light on a dark period in British history. Unmissable.
Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in the Marshalsea
Phenomenal . . . A shoo-in for one of the books of the year
David Young, author of Stasi Child
Enthralling
Telegraph
Extraordinary
Caz Frear, author of Sweet Little Lies
A searing, ingeniously constructed story
The Times
Truly addictive
Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing Girl
A passionate indictment of British involvement in the slave trade but it never neglects its duty to chill and thrill
Sunday Express
With a hugely likeable hero at its heart, this rich and beautifully written debut marks out Laura Shepherd-Robinson as a major new talent
Fiona Cummins, author of Rattle
The finest Georgian intrigue
The Times Crime Club
A remarkably assured debut
Elizabeth Fremantle, author of The Queen's Gambit
A page-turning dive into the torrid depths of London in the 1780s
Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker
Gripping and original . . . I absolutely loved it
Karen Hamilton, author of The Perfect Girlfriend
Immersive and exhilarating . . . I was completely swept away
Holly Seddon, author of Love Will Tear Us Apart
Extraordinary, immersive, addictive and moving
Olivia Kiernan, author of Too Close to Breath
I can’t recommend it enough
Jo Jakeman, author of Sticks and Stones
Utterly compelling . . . The next star of historical crime fiction has arrived
R. N. Morris
The most absorbing, intelligent and breathtakingly atmospheric novel I’ve read in a long time
Chris Whitaker
I haven't read such an accomplished historical novel since I was introduced to C.J. Sansom.
Jo Spain
A gripping mystery . . . I loved it
Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request
One of the best historical novels I’ve read in ages.
Kaite Welsh, author of The Wages of Sin
Deptford, a gateway to and from Britain’s expanding empire, is evoked in pungent detail. The British slave trade was an appalling episode in our history and the novel is unflinching in its refusal to sentimentalise motives or to row back on the savagery of the times.
Daily Mail
Highly recommended as best new thriller since C.J. Sansom and Andrew Taylor.
Amanda Craig

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