Dead Born [Hardcover]

'...Joan Lock's Dead Image finds new material among the teeming Holmesian possibilities of late Victorian London....solidly researched crime novel.' The Times. 'A novel that I recommend without reservation' Sherlock Holmes: Detective Magazine

When the bodies of a number of babies are found scattered around Islington, the volatile Detective Sergeant Best is sent undercover to lodge next door to a suspected baby farm. He shadows an alleged 'child dropper' onto a Thames pleasure steamer and finds himself caught up in Britain's worst civilian tragedy - the 1878 sinking of the Princess Alice - a ghastly experience which will haunt Best forever. His determination to avenge the death of a young pregnant girl he had befriended and save the life of another becomes a crusade. Meanwhile, his beloved Helen returns from Paris with the promise of a decision as to their future. Dead Born is an exciting sequel to Best's adventure's in Dead Image and is again based on historical fact.

Ex-policewoman Joan Lock is the author of eight non-fiction books and two crime novels: Dead Image and Death in perspective. She has been a regular contributor to the police-related contributor to the police press and, currently, the journal of the Crime Writers' Association. She lives in London with her husband Robin, a former police officer.