A Murderous Malady

March 11, 2019
Trent’s well-researched sequel to 2018’s No Cure for the Dead blends Victorian political and cultural mores with a tidy mystery. It’s August 1854, and a cholera epidemic is ravaging London’s Soho district. Florence Nightingale’s exalted friend, secretary at war Sidney Herbert, calls her away from her duties as superintendent of the Establishment for the Temporary Illness of Gentlewomen in Harley Street. Sidney informs her that the carriage that was carrying his wife and father-in-law has been attacked and the driver killed. Sidney, who is loath to tell the police for fear of creating a scandal, asks Florence to investigate. A short while later, Herbert’s manservant, Fenton, arrives at the nurse’s door suffering from cholera. Among the last words Fenton utters before he succumbs to the disease are “devil’s dice.” The varied settings, from the mansions of the wealthy to the pitiful hovels of the poor, add depth to the narrative. Readers will look forward to Florence’s next outing, which will take her to the Crimea. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary