Viper in the Nest

Georgina Clarke

$24.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Verve Books
01 July 2025

Historical mysteries; Historical romance; Historical fiction

London, June 1759. When a charmless civil servant takes his own life, few are interested in his death. But Lizzie Hardwicke, who plies her trade in the brothels of London whilst also working as an undercover sleuth for the magistrate, can see no reason why a man who had everything to look forward to would wish to end his life.

Lizzie's search for answers takes her from the smoke-filled rooms of fashionable gambling houses, where politicians mix ambition with pleasure, to the violent streets of Soho, ready to erupt with riots in the sultry summer heat. All the while, she is navigating her complicated feelings for the magistrate's trusted assistant, Will Davenport, and a disturbing situation at home.

Then a gambling house owner is brutally murdered, and Lizzie finds herself tangled in a chaos that she cannot control. The darkest of secrets threatens to turn Davenport against her forever; its exposure will send her to the gallows.

Praise for Georgina Clarke

'A gripping page-turner with a sassy and fabulously original heroine in the form of Lizzie Hardwicke

I loved it!' - Annie Lyons, author of Eudora Honeysett is Quite Well, Thank You

'From sumptuous depravity to brutal murder, Death and the Harlot is a wild ride through the seedy side of 1750s London, while its heroine, Lizzie Hardwicke, is razor sharp and brilliantly original. I couldn't put it down' - Joe Heap, author of When the Music Stops

'Fans of Sarah Waters and Kate Atkinson will adore this compelling, evocative and utterly gripping tale... It deserves to be huge' - Red Magazine on The Dazzle of the Light

'A marvellous read... Two fabulous protagonists, you will be rooting for them both' - Prima on The Dazzle of the Light

'A vibrant story of survival, feminism, misogyny and living life on the edge' - Sunday Express S Magazine on The Dazzle of the Light

'Cinematic' - Daily Mail on The Dazzle of the Light

By: Georgina Clarke
Imprint: Verve Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9780857308955
ISBN 10: 0857308955
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 01 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Georgina Clarke has a degree in theology and completed a PhD in history part-time, while working as a parish priest. Her love of the past is at the heart of her fiction: her Lizzie Hardwicke crime series is set in the mid-eig18th century, and her latest novel The Dazzle of the Light unfolds in 1920s London and is inspired by the real-life activities of the women-led Forty Thieves crime syndicate. In 2021, Georgina began working as a tutor at The Queen's Foundation in Birmingham, training clergy. When she's not working, she enjoys dressmaking, running and mooching.