Description
'Gloriously bonkers . . . a hugely entertaining slice of Gothic fantasy ' - Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The Shadows of London
An outstanding historical novel for fans of The Essex Serpent and Piranesi, Ray Celestin's Palace of Shadows can lay claim to having at its centre the most Gothic House of them all . . .
"I'm not asking you to build something impossible. I'm asking you to build something that contains all the strangeness and confusion that you can muster."
Samuel Etherstone, a penniless artist, is adrift in London. His disturbing art is shunned by patrons and critics alike, his friend Oscar Wilde is now an exile living in Paris, and a personal tragedy has taken its toll. So when he is contacted by a mysterious heiress, Mrs Chesterfield, and asked to work on a commission for the house she is building on the desolate Smugglers' Coast of North Yorkshire, he accepts the offer.
Staying overnight in the local village pub, Samuel is warned not to spend too much time there. He is told of the fate of the house's original architect, Francisco Varano, chilling tales of folk driven mad by the house, of it being built on haunted land where young girls have vanished, their ghosts now calling others to their deaths...
It is only on arrival at the Chesterfield house that he learns the sinister details of Varano's disappearance. And yet its owner keeps adding wing upon wing, and no one will tell him the reason behind her chilling obsession . . . But as Samuel delves deeper into the mysteries that swirl about the house, the nature of the project becomes terrifyingly clear.
About the Author
Ray Celestin is the author of the prize-winning City Blues Quartet, a series of novels which charts the twin histories of jazz and the Mob through the middle fifty years of the twentieth century. The first novel in the series, The Axeman's Jazz, won the CWA New Blood Dagger for best debut crime novel of the year, and was featured on numerous 'Books of the Year' lists. The second and third books in the series, Dead Man's Blues and The Mobster's Lament, were shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and the Capital Crime Novel of the Year respectively. The final novel in the series, Sunset Swing, won both the CWA Historical Dagger and the Gold Dagger 2022 and was described in the Sunday Telegraph as the conclusion to 'one of the finest achievements of recent crime fiction'.
Reviews
[A] beguiling standalone historical thriller . . . Its jaw-dropping finale will leave readers reeling. An absolute triumph * Sunday Express *
Gloriously bonkers . . . a hugely entertaining slice of Gothic fantasy -- Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The Shadows of London
A rewarding crime novel, swinging its way to a terrifying denouement with all the panache of a New Orleans marching band . . . An excellent debut -- The Times on The Axeman's Jazz
A fascinating portrait of a vibrant and volatile city and a riveting read -- Guardian on The Axeman's Jazz
As he did in his first novel, The Axeman's Jazz, Celestin perfectly captures the jazzy street rhythms of this proudly pugnacious city and its peculiar characters -- New York Times on Dead Man's Blues
His first book was one of the best crime novels of its year and this sequel is even better -- Daily Express on Dead Man's Blues
A vividly written crime thriller which is a contender for book of the year -- Daily Mirror on The Mobster's Lament
A satisfying and multi-layered mystery, and a well researched and dynamic portrait of a teeming city, rife with corruption -- Guardian on The Mobster's Lament
Here ends one of the finest achievements of recent crime fiction -- Sunday Telegraph on Sunset Swing
Brilliantly combines the page-turning tension of the best crime fiction with a panoramic portrait of a city in the midst of profound social change -- Sunday Times on Sunset Swing
Book Information
ISBN 9781035019076
Author Ray Celestin
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Macmillan
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 560g
Dimensions(mm) 243mm * 162mm * 36mm
