Fatally Inferior
by Lyn Squire
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Pub Date Dec 10 2024 | Archive Date Apr 30 2025
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Description
In “Fatally Inferior” (Level Best Books, December 10, 2024), award-winning author Lyn Squire delivers another gripping, period mystery. When a member of Charles Darwin’s household goes missing and a former maid dies in childbirth (or so it seems), reluctant detective Dunston Burnett is thrust into a twisted web of deception, revenge, and murder.
Set against the backdrop of Victorian England, Dunston, a mild-mannered retired bookkeeper, must confront enemies with motives as complex as the theories of evolution themselves. The investigation takes him from the halls of Down House, Darwin’s home in Kent, to the shadowy streets of London, where every clue brings him closer to a chilling truth.
Squire masterfully blends fact with fiction, weaving a narrative rich in period detail while keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Fans of intricate plots, atmospheric settings, and richly developed characters will be captivated by this second Dunston Burnett mystery. With its tantalizing blend of real nineteenth-century figures and a devilish mystery, “Fatally Inferior” is a must-read for lovers of historical whodunits.
A Note From the Publisher
Lyn has always been an avid reader of whodunits and has reviewed scores of mysteries for the City Book Review (Sacramento, CA), but it was the thrill of solving Charles Dickens’s unfinished ‘Mystery of Edwin Drood’ that convinced him to put aside his development pen and turn to fiction. Finding a solution to the mystery has attracted massive interest since the author’s death in 1870. A 1998 bibliography lists over 2,000 entries, with continuations ranging from the obvious (a Sherlock Holmes pastiche) to the absurd (The Mysterious Mystery of Rude Dedwin). Lyn’s version of what happened to Edwin is revealed in his first novel, Immortalised to Death. The adventures of his protagonist, Dunston Burnett, a non-conventional amateur detective, continue in Fatally Inferior and The Séance of Murder, the second and third stories in The Dunston Burnett Trilogy.
Advance Praise
“A layered and fast-paced mystery that also takes time to explore the importance of Darwin’s work.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Dunston Burnett is back for a second time, now pulled into an investigation of a missing person in the household of Charles Darwin. The intrigue becomes as thick as pea soup or English fog and Burnett desperately tries to track down a merciless killer bent upon revenge. ‘Fatally Inferior will leave you spent and exhausted and is not to be missed. Read the book.’”
– Matt Cost, award winning author of sixteen histories and mysteries, including the Mainely Mysteries, the Clay Wolfe Trap Mysteries, and the Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mysteries
"If you're in the market for a good, old-fashioned mystery and you enjoy traveling to different places and different times, you won't do better than Lyn Squire's latest, Fatally Inferior. Squire has gifted us with a fast-paced, historical crime novel set in England smack in the middle of the Victorian Age. While sprinkling in actual historical figures like Charles Darwin and the controversy born of his seminal book, Origin of the Species, Squire draws us into a mystery filled with enough twists and turns that keeps us turning the pages."
-Charles Salzberg, 3-time Shamus Award nominee and author
of Second Story Man and Man on the Run
‘Lyn Squire continues his highly original Dunston Burnett mystery series with a tale worthy of Wilkie Collins himself. Burnett investigates the strange disappearance of Charles Darwin’s daughter-in- law. There are some terrific twists and turns as the compelling plot unfolds. Beautifully written and populated with some great characters, Fatally Inferior is a wonderful read!’
--Mark Ellis, author of the acclaimed Frank Merlin London wartime detective series
'Fatally Inferior sure packs a wallop. No, two, no, half a dozen! Be ready for Dickensian hard hitting truths, vicious criminals, and fiendish plots. And a slightly worried self- deprecating detective and his friend, the ex police inspector Line. Weaving intrigue through the political fault lines in the acrimonious months after Charles Darwin’s publication of his famous treatise, Lyn Squire delivers a shocking tale that could be called a Victorian noir novel.
--Nev March, award winning author of Murder in Old Bombay, NY chapter chair of Mystery Writers of America
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781685127831 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
