Death at the Altar by Donna Gowland – Review

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley) is in the grip of a deep depression. Her baby daughter has died. The baby’s father Percy Bysshe Shelley is too preoccupied with the literary life to provide Mary much solace. Her stepsister Claire Clairmont has her own designs on Percy, but soon gets distracted by a campaign to woo Lord Byron. And life in early-nineteenth century London is generally bleak and difficult, especially for young woman who have given birth to the child of a married man. Percy was still married to his first wife Harriet Westbrook at this point.

So when Mary receives an invitation to the wedding of an old school friend in Scotland, Percy thinks a break from London will do them both good. However, violence and tragedy seem to stalk Mary and Percy wherever they visit. The phrase shotgun wedding had, most likely, not yet entered the lexicon, which is a shame as a country parson is shot dead at the wedding Mary and Percy attend and such events are not supposed to happen in polite society. The culprit is quickly found hanged, presumably a suicide brought on by overwhelming guilt. But Mary knows that the mystery is only just beginning to unravel.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of the ‘Mary Shelley Investigations’ series. Donna Gowland knows her literary detective well. Gowland’s expertise on both Mary Shelley and the times she lived through is brought to vivid life on the page. Death at the Altar is the third book in the series and the best so far. My advice is to buy and read all three volumes in the series. Gowland writes some of the best gothic fiction being published today.