The second novel from the author of Blood & Sugar, and this time Captain Harry Corsham's wife, Caro, takes centre stage as she pursues a murder case the city officials are refusing to investigate . . .

'The best historical crime novel I will read this year' – The Times

From The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Square of Sevens, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Daughters of Night follows Caroline Corsham as she seeks justice for a murdered woman whom Georgian London society would rather forget . . .

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline ‘Caro’ Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the dead woman was a highly paid prostitute. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done.

Enlisting the help of thief-taker Peregrine Child, Caro sets out to solve the crime herself. Their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice and deception. But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro’s own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be more treacherous than she can know . . .

'Spectacularly brilliant . . . One of the most enjoyable and enduring stories I have ever read' – James O'Brien, journalist and author of How They Broke Britain

Praise for Laura Shepherd-Robinson:

'This rich, complex and haunting Dickensian epic is a triumph of the Gothic genre' – Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal, on The Square of Sevens

‘A page-turner of a crime thriller . . . This is a world conveyed with convincing, terrible clarity’ – C. J. Sansom, bestselling author of Tombland, on Blood & Sugar

"Come for the clever mystery, stay reading late into the night for the vivid, tender portrayal of a world where women are bought, sold and abused, yet fight to retain their vim and dignity. I would gamble what’s left of my virtue on Daughters of Night being the best historical crime novel I will read this year" - The Times

"Outstanding" - The I

"Laura Shepherd-Robinson's historical crime thriller Daughters of Night brings Georgian London to life in all its seedy glory" - Express

"[Daughters of Night] pitched the period perfectly, you got a real sense of what London was like. The attention to detail is exceptional and the plot races along. Loved it" - Woman's Way

"Utterly fascinating . . . Niftily plotted, vivid and thoroughly researched" - Guardian

"Daughters of Night is a deeply satisfying novel, reminiscent of Iain Pears’s later work in its feel for historical detail and character, and the way it subtly asks questions about our own age" - The Observer

"There is no doubt that Shepherd-Robinson is a rising star in the historical fiction firmament" - Sunday Express

"[Shepherd-Robinson] would be advised to clear her shelves for future awards" - Financial Times

"Deservedly described as a strong contender for the best historical novel of the year, it is a lushly written and evocative look at Georgian society, high and low, centering on the violent death of a woman who turns out not to be quite who she claimed. It is fuelled by a quiet anger over the lack of agency available to women then, and, by implication, now" - The i

"Read Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, but read Blood & Sugar first: a) because it's brilliant, and b) because the characters overlap. They're both murder mysteries set in a meticulously and hyper-vividly drawn 18th-century London. The first is eye-opening about slavery, the second is about prostitution, or rather the first is about race and the second is about woman. Total page-turners" - Sunday Times

"[A] delectable whodunnit oozing with menace and lively period language" - Woman & Home