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1800s: Murder comes to the gothic, medieval city of Durham….
The Durham Deception
What you need to know before your trail
Durham, the stunning cathedral city is a place of history, art and intrigue and if you are Tom and Helen Ansell, a recently married couple it is also the city of Victorian spiritualism and murder.
Tom has already been to Salisbury on an investigation into shady goings on in the 19th century and Helen, now his wife has also experience of finding out what can lie beneath ancient stones. They were only supposed to be going to Durham to visit an aunt but before they know it, they are seeing and discerning a lot more about the city than they ever would have realised.
Then there is the mystery of the Lucknow dagger to solve – what is it and why is it important? And just what has Aunt Julia got herself embroiled in, in this world of spirits and other beings.
Murder of course is not far behind…
Travel Guide
Durham – the cathedral city which stands proud on the banks of the River Wear in North East England, a far cry from the busy city of London where Tom and Helen live, and of course from Salisbury where they solved their first murder mystery together in book one.
The story starts in Tullis Street, just beside the British Museum to be precise. Tom and Helen visit number 67 where a certain Mrs Smight, who knows her aunt introduces her to the spirit world and to a whole new adventure. They are given a message of someone in danger.
From this strange and disturbing setting we then go up the coast to Durham and the city where the mystery will unfold. to the river, wear, the colt House and the mystery of the Lucknow Dagger.
“The green of the countryside was blotched with heaps of slaw and skeletal pitheads and pinched lines of housing”
“The train ran across a gently curving viaduct and they had their first sight of the castle and the cathedral”
The city on a hill is where the mystery unfolds and from the very first moment they step from the train, the Durham deception starts when they arrive in Colt house and meet shady Septimus Sheridan.
The city also is one shady alleyways and shadows. The imposing building, the great edifices seem to taunt them and even the trees are overhanging oaks with the sense that their branches are lying in wait to trap them.
The River Wear like the investigation into Victorian Spiritualism rises and falls, changes colour and direction as it whisks them along. When the local theatre, the Perseus Cabinet proves to be a hive of strange activity, Tom and Helen become involved in a case with mediums and the Lucknow dagger which has its origins as far afield as India and links to the Indian mutiny…a chequered history indeed.
Two very different worlds are about to collide.
Streetview Maps
1) North East England, Durham: Train Station
The station looks over the city
The station looks over the city
4) North East England, Durham: Cathedral
The gothic cathedral has many mysteries hidden
The gothic cathedral has many mysteries hidden
Where Next?
