From the Sunday Times bestselling author, and recent Edgar Award nominee, Laura Purcell, a gripping tale of obsession, superstition and ambition, set against the atmospheric backdrop of Victorian London. Be careful what you wish for… it may just come true.
SOMETHING WICKED
by Laura Purcell
Bloomsbury, August 2022
(via Mushens Entertainment)
By the pricking of my thumbs…
At The Mercury Theatre in London’s West End, rumours are circulating of a curse. It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees. What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in nature. On stage, it’s as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the Muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders if the rumours are true, and fears that when the Muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.
…Something Wicked this way comes
Laura Purcell is a former bookseller living in Colchester, Essex with her husband and pet guinea pigs. She began her career with two historical novels about the Hanoverian monarchs, Queen of Bedlam and Mistress of the Court. Her first Gothic novel The Silent Companions was a Radio 2 Book Club pick, was selected for the Zoe Ball ITV Book Club and was the winner of the Thumping Good Read Award. Her other Gothic titles include The Corset, Bone China and The Shape of Darkness. In the USA Laura is published by Penguin Books, where The Corset is titled The Poison Thread and Bone China is called The House of Whispers. Additionally, Laura’s short stories have been published in a number of collections.
La filière britannique de Gaumont vient d’acheter les droits audiovisuels du thriller psychologique DOG ROSE DIRT de Jen Williams et prévoit de l’adapter en série télé.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, 32-year old musician Natalie Fincher plays at a busy London train station piano. Since the death of her husband two years ago, it’s the only time she forgets how lonely she is, and the only place she feels comfortable playing music anymore – where she’s anonymous, and nobody’s really listening. Then sheet music starts being left anonymously in the lid of the piano stool – specific songs she played only for her husband when he was sick. Is someone up there looking down on her? Or has someone down here been listening all along? Natalie is about to find out… 
Jai is a Captive in the Sabine Court – ever since his father Rohan, leader of the Plainsfolk, led an uprising and was put to death by the Emperor who Jai must now serve. The Sabine Empire has a powerful tool, the Gryphon Guard: elite warriors who ride gryphons. Only one thing is more powerful than them: dragons, exclusive to a rival kingdom. When the emperor’s son is betrothed to Princess Erica of the Dansk Kingdom she brings with her a powerful dowry: dragons. These powerful beasts come in several forms, but secrecy surrounds them and only the Dansk Royalty can soul-bond with these magical beasts to draw on their power and strength.
1944. Marguerite Segal, an artist living under a false identity on the Cote d’Azur to escape her criminal past, is blackmailed by British Intelligence into befriending Father Etienne Valade, a local priest suspected of being an Nazi collaborator. Her mission is to persuade him to pass on information from the high ranking German officers who attend his church. Connected by a passion for art, they soon fall in love. As she tries to convince him to pass on information learned in the confessional box, her association with him increasingly puts her in danger of violent reprisals from the local people. At the same time, her covert work, creating false identity cards to camouflage those hiding from the Third Reich, brings her under the scrutiny of the occupying enemy.