Instruments of Darkness - Imogen Robertson

Daphne du Maurier meets CSI in this exhilarating debut

Thornleigh Hall, seat of the Earl of Sussex, dominates its surroundings. Its heir is missing, and the once vigorous family is reduced to a cripple, his whore and his alcoholic second son, but its power endures.

Impulsive Harriet Westerman has felt the Hall's menace long before she happens upon a dead man bearing the Thornleigh arms. The grim discovery cries out for justice, and she persuades reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther to her cause, much against his better judgement; he knows a dark path lies before those who stray from society's expectations. That same day, Alexander Adams is killed in a London music shop, leaving his young children orphaned. His death will lead back to Sussex, and an explosive secret that has already destroyed one family and threatens many others.

Imogen Robertson is a TV, film and radio director. She grew up in Darlington, then studied Russian and German at Cambridge University, and now lives in London. She directs the hit Cbeebies show Numberjacks for TV and radio, and won an RTS award in 2006 for one of her episodes. She also writes and reviews poetry and was commended in The National Poetry Competition 2005. Imogen won the Telegraph 's 'First thousand words of a novel' competition in 2007 with the opening of Instruments of Darkness , her first novel.

'Original and entertaining'

'Beautifully written, capturing the essence and style of the difference between classes, the violence and religious hypocrisy of the times'