These Shallow Graves

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What to expect

A wealthy family. A deadly secret. A young woman with more to lose than she knows.

Josephine Montfort is from one of New York's oldest, most respected, and wealthiest families. Like most well-off girls of the Gilded Age, her future looks set - after a finishing school education, she will be favourably married off to a handsome gentleman, after which she'll want for nothing. But Jo has other dreams and desires that make her long for a very different kind of future. She wants a more meaningful and exciting life: she wants to be an investigative journalist like her heroine Nellie Bly.

But when Jo's father is found dead in his study after an alleged accident, her life becomes far more exciting than even Jo would wish. Unable to accept that her father could have been so careless, she begins to investigate his death with the help of a young reporter, Eddie Gallagher. It quickly becomes clear he was murdered, and in their race against time to discover the culprit and his motive, Jo and Eddie find themselves not only battling dark characters on the violent and gritty streets of New York, but also their growing feelings for each other.

Critics Review

An intelligent, personable heroine-Jo Montfort’s hopes for an enlightened future uncover a dark past, resulting in a splendidly hair-raising tour of the brightest and darkest corners of Victorian New York.

Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of CODE NAME VERITY

THESE SHALLOW GRAVES delivered all that I adore: lovely prose, historical intrigue, unique chracters and setting. I devoured this book!

Ruta Sepetys, New York Times bestselling author of BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY and OUT OF THE EASY

A fast-paced Gilded Age crime thriller that plunges its intrepid investigative-journalist heroine into the sordid underworld of nineteenth-century New York City and into her own family’s dark secrets

Julie Berry, award-winning author of ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S IN ME

Murder, morgues, asylums, dirty secrets and a slow-burning romance in this epic historical thriller

Editor's Choice, The Bookseller

Superbly plotted, suspenseful historical mystery with a great sense of place and a sprawling cast of shifty characters worthy of Dickens. Cracking read!

Peters - Librarian's Pick

Donnelly’s action-packed chapters propel this compelling mystery. Through Jo’s sheltered perspective, readers learn about class disparity right alongside her, and Donnelly is as adept at describing an opulent ball as she is a seedy neighbourhood.

Publishers Weekly

Engaging characters and historical accuracy make clear the appalling conditions endured by the poor of New York and the changing attitudes towards the role of women . . . this well-paced story will satisfy those who enjoy a good mystery. An added element of romance makes this book all the more appealing

Inis Reading Guide

If George Clooney had walked in to the room I would have told him to come back later when I’d finished … Mattie is a heroine on a par with Jo in Little Women or Cassandra in I Capture the Castle. Donnelly captures period and place with almost supernatural skill.

The Telegraph (Praise for A GATHERING LIGHT)

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