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Published Jul 2011
448 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
London, 1920. In the aftermath of the Great War and a devastating family tragedy, Laurence Bartram has turned his back on the world. But with a well-timed letter, an old flame manages to draw him back in. Mary Emmett's brother John - like Laurence, an officer during the war - has apparently killed himself while in the care of a remote veterans' hospital, and Mary needs to know why.
Aided by his friend Charles - a dauntless gentleman with detective skills cadged from mystery novels - Laurence begins asking difficult questions. What connects a group of war poets, a bitter feud within Emmett's regiment, and a hidden love affair? Was Emmett's death really a suicide, or the missing piece in a puzzling series of murders? As veterans tied to Emmett continue to turn up dead, and Laurence is forced to face the darkest corners of his own war experiences, his own survival may depend on uncovering the truth.
At once a compelling mystery and an elegant literary debut, The Return of Captain John Emmett blends the psychological depth of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy with lively storytelling from the golden age of British crime fiction.
"Though Speller eventually falters with an over reliance on coincidence, for the most part she delivers an elegant, engrossing read." - Publishers Weekly
"Historian Speller... uses the Dyett and Poole executions in WWI as a springboard for this elegantly written antiwar saga." - Kirkus Reviews
"An absorbing mystery... Speller's literary debut is brimming with historical details of the period and doesn't shy away from war's atrocities. There are many references to British writers and poets that the average American reader may not be familiar with, and the myriad names of officers and soldiers may be confusing." - Library Journal
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elizabeth Speller studied Classics at Cambridge. She has written for various publications, and has taught at the universities of Cambridge, Birmingham, and Bristol. She divides her life between Gloucestershire and Greece. The Return of Captain John Emmett is her first novel. Check out her website at www.elizabethspeller.com.
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