Please note A Fever of the Blood is a direct sequel to The Strings of Murder and it is likely that if you haven’t read this book first then this review may contain something akin to minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you in advance. New Year’s Day, 1889. In Edinburgh’s lunatic asylum, a patient escapes as a nurse lays dying. Leading the manhunt are legendary local Detective ‘Nine-Nails’ McGray and Londoner-in-exile Inspector Ian Frey. Before the murder, the suspect was heard in whispered conversation with a fellow patient – a girl who had been mute for years. What made her suddenly break her silence? And why won’t she talk again? Could the rumours about black magic be more than superstition? McGray and Frey track a devious psychopath far beyond their jurisdiction, through the worst blizzard in living memory, into the shadow of Pendle Hill – home of the Lancashire witches – where unimaginable danger awaits… I do like to throw the odd crime novel into my reading list, and I have to admit, historical crime tends to be my personal favourite. In particular, I have a soft for anything set in the Victorian era. This time period feels like...