A dark and twisty mystery set in 1930 London- and so atmospheric. Jacob and Rachel are two unique and dynamic characters I'd like to see again. A good read.

Martin Edwards has proved himself a great editor of Golden Age detective fiction. In addition, Edwards has been writing his own detective series since the 1990s. With <i>Gallows Court</i>, he has a wonderful stand-alone novel.

Let’s cut to the chase: Who is Rachel Savernake? Daughter of a hanging judge? Yes. A woman who keeps a VERY low profile, rarely even leaving her house? Yes. But is she a villainess? Or is she an avenging angel? It’s up to newly minted crime reporter Jacob Flint to find out. And find out if he can live to report his findings.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

This excellent, pitch-perfect novel by the inimitable Martin Edwards is one of the most enjoyable I've read in the last five years. The Golden Age-style mystery, set in 1930 London, introduces Rachel Savernake, the daughter of an infamous hanging judge... Rachel's enigmatic presence and uncanny intuition and ability to solve murders is a source of frustration for Scotland Yard and for a hungry journalist in pursuit of a scoop to uncover Rachel's true nature and biography. This novel, and its follow-up "Mortmain Hall," are delicious and satisfying to the very last page.

I reviewed this book after a few pages and gave it 3 stars
However, I have since read the whole book and loved it so much that I went straight to amazon and bought the next book in the series.
I havr just finished it ,Mortmain Hall cannot wait for the next book.

I gobbled this book up in one bite. It was so deliciously dark and twisty. Nothing and no one is what it seems and just when you think you've got it all figured out another body drops and you have to rethink everything! I loved the characters - they are so mysterious and Film Noir-ish - even the gormless ones are interesting.

When I finished, all I wanted was more!

This is a novel of revenge and retribution with a lot of victims. If you don't mind having your mystery story be dark and veer a bit into the torture, horror genre, this could be just the story for you. I found it too dark and did not enjoy the book.

Talk about a book that picks up steam! Thanks NetGalley for the free advance copy of this book for an honest review. Tremendous mystery with lots of murders, and yet a purpose behind the murders. About half way through the book this book is like a locomotive, and it is runaway excitement and entertainment, to the point where I could not put it down until I had finished it! Well written, with so many twists and turns it is hard to keep up. But it all comes together under a masterful job by the author, Martin Edwards. Now why not a 5*****. By the end everything got so quickly resolved in such a convoluted manner that I am not sure that all the readers will enjoy this. The book is well plotted with interesting characters, from Rachael Savernake, to Jacob Flint and Sara Delamere. Just good stuff, and it appears that there could be a sequel possible and knowing all the twists and turns the author uses, I can see him writing another book featuring Savernake and Flint. 4.5**** on my scale.

The setting of 1930 in London was good for this story. There have been several violent deaths of eminent people. All by their own hand so far and no suspects involved. The last one does not uncover any shady dealings in the man's history. His character and behaviour seems exemplary so why should he blow his brains out and top it all by accepting guilt for a horrendous murder, especially when his body is found with the decapitated head of the victim by his side.

On the other side we have the enigmatic Rachel Savernake. Daughter of a judge who finally went mad and killed himself, the daughter shows characteristics which do not make her seem normal. She is a brilliant detective though and showed up Scotland Yard by solving the Chorus Girl murder. Being a woman she was not taken seriously and still isnt by certain people, always to their detriment.

We have Jacob a young, keen Fleet Street journalist who becomes the pawn in Rachel's machinations and her vendetta against society who she feels did badly by her. One by one her foes are eliminated, along with the people who helped her put away people.
Very convoluted, very atmospheric I couldn't solve the puzzle till the almost end!

The author is clearly talented, and I love the fact that he’s not afraid to use words that might make readers check a dictionary. However, this book took almost to the halfway point to really capture my attention, and then there were so many twists and turns - several of which were very convoluted - that I became impatient with the ending.

In a nutshell, you’ve got a journalist, an eccentric wealthy woman, and a long list of other characters who keep dying in mysterious/suspicious ways. There are several big twists in the last third of the novel. The first one was excellent, but the others were a mixture of predictable and borderline absurd.

Part of the problem for me was that the author had a highly disturbing story built and then tossed the kitchen sink at it, presumably to make it even more disturbing. Instead, it fell out of the realm of believable and into the land of cartoonish super villainy.

I also hated the way men talked about, thought about, and treated women. Yes, it was probably pretty accurate given the time period, and yes, a female character gets the last jab in toward men. But some of the commentary just felt unnecessary, and it also constantly reminded me that the author is male.

Overall, I enjoyed parts of this book but wish I’d DNF’ed it at the 25% mark, like I almost did.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy.

The bodies accumulate at an alarming rate in “Gallows Court” by Martin Edwards.

In his forward, Edwards says that he started this novel with the character of Rachel Savernake, “a woman who fascinated me, even though she was dangerous to know.” The reader’s surrogate is Jacob Fline, a cub reporter on the Clarion. Naive, impetuous, and frankly, rather dim, Jacob is led around London by the women in this story. He is never told quite enough to reveal the secrets behind Gallows Court. Reader beware! You will be challenged to get a step ahead of the villains.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received a complimentary ARC copy of Gallows Court by Martin Edwards from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in order to read and give an honest review.

“…interesting characters, an atmospheric, intricate and extremely clever plot filled with a head-spinning amount of twists, turns and perfectly placed red-herrings.”

New to author Martin Edwards, I am so impressed with Gallows Court! This novel is right out of the Golden Age of Mystery and I loved it! Edwards has created an intriguing and dynamic story to rival those of such greats as Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen but with his own unique twist.

Set in London, 1930, ambitious crime writer Jacob Flint tries to work his way up the ladder at a disreputable rag called “The Clarion”. Pursuing a story about a string of mysterious deaths, his path crosses with the late Judge Savernake’s daughter, Rachel Savernake an amateur sleuth, who was capable of solving a crime that had Scotland stymied. Getting a scoop from the infamous and very wealthy Ms Savernake would catapult him to the top of his field. While fed anonymous tips, interviewing witnesses and following bizarre leads Jacob is led into some questionable situations which seem to cast his suspicions on Rachel and makes him realize there is more going on than meets the eye.

This book had it all, interesting characters, an atmospheric, intricate and extremely clever plot, filled with a head-spinning amount of twists, turns and perfectly placed red-herrings. All in all an extremely satisfying read and one that I highly recommend.

Gallows Court is an atmospheric homage to British golden age mysteries.

Cub crime reporter Jacob Flint is trying to get an interview with the rich and enigmatic Rachel, who has recently solved the chorus girl murder and is working on a new serial killer case. Rachel is the daughter of a hanging judge. She has a mysterious Irish past involving Juliet. Juliet’s life on the island with her cousin Rachel, while the judge slowly descends into madness, is detailed in her diary entries from years earlier. Juliet is convinced her parents have been murdered by one or both of them.

First of all, I love reading the author’s scholarly introductions to, and books about, the British golden age of mysteries. I haven’t read any of his modern mysteries. I respect that Gallows Court is his take on a golden age mystery. However, the book seemed overlong and kind of lost my interest somewhere in the middle. I stuck with it and the conclusion was good. If you don’t mind taking your time reading, this book will reward you with some surprising twists and turns. It feels genuinely like it was written in the 1930s. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

As a fan of Golden Age mysteries I know the introductions written by this author but this was the first book I read.
It was fantastic, a book that I read in a setting and couldn't put it down.
It's dark, atmospheric and enthralling, full of twists and turns. It kept me guessing till the end and I was sad when this fantastic travel was ended.
I'd be happy to read other books with this characters and hope this is the first in a series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

Gallows Court is a historical mystery featuring a disconcerting and mysterious woman named Rachel Savenake who alternately fascinates and horrifies Jacob Flint, the intrepid reporter who sees a pattern in some recent deaths, including the accident that has put his mentor in the hospital and at death’s door.

Two horrific murderers have confessed and killed themselves. Rather than rejoicing, Jacob wonders if there is more to the story and everywhere he looks, there is the beautiful and wealthy Rachel. The more he looks, the more suspicions accumulate. Rachel, however, is on a quest and we follow her own efforts to sort out what seems to be a vast conspiracy.



This is Martin Edwards first historical mystery and it takes place during the Great Depression, though Rachel’s wealth seems untouched. Edwards is a student of the genre, editing several anthologies from the Golden Age of mystery writing and he more than meets the challenge. The story is fair, we have the opportunity to know everything before it is revealed, but there were still surprises.

Gallows Court will be released on September 17th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Gallows Court at Poisoned Pen Press
Martin Edwards author site

Martin Edwards is one of my favorite authors, so I was looking forward to this first-in-a-new-series with a great deal of anticipation. The setting of Gallows Court is pitch-perfect. The streets of London in the dark and the fog are suitably creepy, and Edwards describes a world in the grips of the Depression very well. In addition, if you like creepy houses on remote islands in the Irish Sea, you should love Gaunt Island.

The story has intermittent chapters from a young girl's journal written in 1919 that give us some backstory on the mysterious Rachel Savernake, and those chapters really make a reader wonder what type of person she is. When another character says, "Rachel Savernake is the most dangerous woman in England," you feel as though you must agree.

The young newspaperman, Jacob Flint, is a callow youth. He's really not been out in the cold cruel world long enough to knock some sense into him, so he's completely unprepared when people he interviews are killed and thugs jump out of dark alleys to rough him up. He does have a knack for investigative journalism and he certainly doesn't know when to quit, so he does have plenty of potential.

Gallows Court is a mystery in which nothing and no one should be taken at face value. Little is as it appears to be, and this is exactly the sort of mystery that can be so much fun to solve. And I did, indeed, solve most of the mystery. The problem is, I am not a fan of plots in which one of the characters has to spend a lot of time explaining what really happened to everyone else, and this happens not once, but twice.

With the exception of those two long sections of exposition and the fact that I never did warm up to Jacob Flint, I give everything else in Gallows Court high marks. If you're the type of reader who doesn't mind exposition and has more patience for the callowness of youth, this could be your perfect cup of tea.

There are some books that just seem to grab your imagination. While you're reading them, you just can't put them down and then when you finally do have to put them down for a bit, you can't stop thinking about them. Gallows Court by Martin Edwards is certainly one of those.
Set in the 1930's the book manages to capture the era well and the book certainly has the feel of those books from the golden age of crime writing. Having said that, the fact that it is told by a modern author certainly adds an element to this book that is missing from most of the books that were written in that era. There is a certain sophistication and also a depravity that doesn't tend to feature in books of that time. It gives a depth to the book that elevates it from a homage to the classic crime novels and gives us a gripping thriller.
There are plenty of twists and turns in this story and it was that which kept me on the edge of my seat. Not sure where things would head next or who was to be trusted. Like all good characters, there is a certain blurring of the lines between the good and the bad. Although, the baddies really do turn out to be baddies of the worst kind.
While I did manage to see where things were going once or twice, I will admit that I was taken by surprise on a number of occasions. Things that I really hadn't seem coming, but that made perfect sense once they were revealed caught me by surprise on a number of occasions.
The story itself is told as we follow young journalist Jacob Flint. He's enthusiastic, tenacious but ultimately naive and as an investigating lead makes an interesting person to follow. The standout character in this book though, is Rachel Savernake, although I'm not entirely sure that we ever see her as she actually is.
I thoroughly enjoyed Gallows Court. I suspect that it will be one of those books that I think about for some time to come. It certainly covered enough ground to keep the little grey cells entertained for a while.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is my first Martin Edwards book that I have been able to pick up and I would like to thank Netgalley, Source Books, and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC. #partner.

The Kind of Golden Age Crime follows Jacob Flint, a crime writer in 1930s London in his newest book. Flint is roped into a circle of crime when chief crime report, Tom Betts, was left for dead in a hit and run accident. Flint finds himself on scene at an apparent suicide thanks to a tip from an anonymous person. From then on, anonymous tips keep bringing him to more crime scenes that may or may not be connected. As Flint tries to get to the bottom of these crimes while talking to investigators, Rachel Saversnake, the daughter of the great Judge Saversnake begins making quite an impression among the investigators as an apparent citizen detective.

Flint begins to uncover clues that may connect Rachel Savernake to the crimes. With a twist that I didn't see coming, and a very involved plot, I would recommend Gallows Court to anyone that likes cozy crime novels, Agatha Christie, and Golden Age Crime Novels.

I look forward to reading more Martin Edwards soon. Once again, thank you Netgalley for this e-galley.

One of the biggest surprises for the reader of the highly enjoyable Gallows Court is the discovery that prolific author Martin Edwards has delivered a thriller instead of the classically clued mystery story that might be expected. I have no complaints, since the plot gallops along and there are more than enough puzzles to work out regarding hidden motives and lurking dangers. But because Edwards is a leading scholar of Golden Age Detective fiction – his thoroughly researched history of The Detection Club, The Golden Age of Murder (2015), is a delightful and formidable achievement – and because of the story's plum setting of 1930 London, I had expected a whodunit in the Christie cosy tradition. Instead, Gallows Court fuses the immediacy and intrigue of a John Buchan thriller with a 21st century tolerance (and thirst?) for grimmer, grittier stakes in both politics and crime drama.

Jacob Flint, an underdog reporter for The Clarion, is beguiled by a mysterious woman. Rachel Savernake has apparently been a part of the machinations that brought two wealthy murderers to justice, men who killed and disposed of women who were no longer of value to them. One burning question, however, is just what Rachel's role may be: is she a detective or an avenging demon? The daughter of a rich, severe, and (if the rumors are true) insane judge, Rachel Savernake might have a longer game to play, and one that could very likely use and dispose of Jacob the journalist like a pawn in a chess match. As more deaths occur and some viciously violent attacks are made on Jacob Flint and his allies, the vulnerable reporter needs to discover who Rachel Savernake is and what her dangerous endgame might be.

With Gallows Court, the author has constructed an engrossing genre hybrid that makes the most of the narrative elements that keep mystery and suspense fiction humming along. An atmosphere of genuine menace builds as amateur detective proxy Flint travels deeper into the trap and those around him begin to meet brutal fates that he just narrowly avoids. Edwards populates his novel with many smartly sketched supporting characters, and, like Jacob, the reader must decide who can be trusted and who might turn deadly. The narrative is interlaced with diary entries from Juliet Brentano, a captive on Judge Savernake's isolated island, and she accuses Rachel Savernake of killing her parents (no spoiler; we read this passage before Rachel appears). It's a masterful setup, and one that keeps the reader guessing about whether the enigmatic Rachel will prove to be a sympathetic heroine or a loathsome villain… or even a combination of the two.

While the book is great, fast-paced fun and has much to recommend, I personally found the intriguing opening and first half of Gallows Court more engaging than its end chapters, after much has been revealed (I was ahead of a few of the twists) and the resolution is left to attend to the various plot threads. The observation is actually a credit to Martin Edwards, who delivered such a propulsive Act One and engrossing Act Two that one can forgive a little restlessness before the falling of the final curtain. I would have also enjoyed watching Jacob Flint actively put together the pieces that he has been astutely collecting on his own; instead he gets an assist from a deceased fellow detective (via a Dictaphone recording) who has already done the heavy lifting. But these are minor quibbles, and Gallows Court has many dark pleasures to discover for mystery fans who don't mind a walk down the wilder streets and alleys of 1930s London.

I am happy to report that the amazing Poisoned Pen Press will be releasing Gallows Court on September 17, 2019 for American eBook and print audiences. I received an advance reading copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My UK peers have already had a year to enjoy this tale, and you can find their positive prior reviews on their sites, from Kate at crossexaminingcrime, Sarah at CrimePieces, and The Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel.

In 1930s London, ambitious crime journalist Jacob Flint encounters femme fatale Rachel Savernake. Rachel has embarrassed the local CID with her ability to solve a crime that baffled them, and Flint is keen to know more about her, but she is having none of it.

Flint soon receives an anonymous tip that leads him to a crime scene involving one of the City's leading lights, landing a scoop that his boss is very pleased with. He later finds himself on the scene of another murder, and starts to attract similar suspicious attention from the police as Rachel does. He also attracts the attention of some less salubrious elements, to his cost.

This is essentially a rollicking yarn with a nice sense of place and time. It's doesn't have the most original story or characters, but it's good fun.

This is a great piece of historical crime fiction, with a fast pace. The characters are so interesting! Even when they are aloof or not that likeable, Edwards made them in such a way that I as a reader liked them anyway somehow. The whole mystery and structure took some nice turns.