The Body on the Doorstep: A dark and compelling historical murder mystery

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Kent, 1796. Shocked to discover a dying man on his doorstep - and lucky to avoid a bullet himself - Reverend Hardcastle finds himself entrusted with the victim's cryptic last words. With smuggling rife on England's south-east coast, the obvious conclusion is that a dodgy deal has gone wrong. But why is the leader of the local Customs service so reluctant to investigate

Ably assisted by the ingenious Mrs Chaytor, Hardcastle sets out to solve the mystery for himself. But smugglers are not the only ones to lurk off the Kent coast, and the more he discovers, the more he realises he might have bitten off more than he can chew.

The Body on the Doorstep is the first Reverend Hardcastle mystery by A.J. MacKenzie.

Reviews

An enjoyable murder mystery with engaging characters, nicely observed historical detail and gentle humour. -- Tracey Warr * Historical Novel Review *
A welcome addition to the genre... I know if the next book in the series had been published I would be reading that now. I'll have to look forward to it but in the meantime, I thoroughly recommend this to all * hairpastafreckle72.blogspot.co.uk *
A gripping, atmospheric page turner... The plot itself is extremely clever...The Body on the Doorstep is fresh and exciting in addition to being skilfully written. * The Bookbag *
An enjoyable murder mystery with engaging characters, nicely observed historical detail and gentle humour * Historical Novel Review *
This is an enjoyable read, lots of interesting historical detail, engaging characters and plenty of twists to the plot. There is definitely potential for a series based on these characters and setting, I would like to read more * A Good Read Blog *
This is a most impressive debut from a new writing team. The setting pre-dates most of the war between England and France, i.e.. pre-Bonaparte, but is beautifully realised with lots of understanding of both the politics and everyday life. The plot is cleverly put together with differing explanations and characters and motives that may or may not be true. All in all a terrific book and I want to read more! * Plucked Highbrow *
A clever and gripping atmospheric page turner, with engaging and believable characters, plenty of twists and turns, nicely observed historical detail and touches of gentle humour...The characterisation throughout is superb. The artist JMW Turner makes an interesting and sympathetic appearance and even the minor players appear authentic and individual. The background is impeccably presented and the pace picks up as the story progresses. If the showdown owes more to Christie than Le Carre it is nonetheless in keeping with the overall tone of a quite brilliant and traditional period novel * Crime Review Book Blog *
'It lived up to the blurb's promise. It's a cracking adventure and I whizzed through it - a real page-turner. I loved the characters, for me the most important aspect of any piece of fiction. But they have to be supported by tight plot-structure and scene setting, and this does all of that. The language is just right, reflecting and capturing the period, but without becoming impenetrable. The interplay between Hardcastle and the ingenious Mrs Chaytor is lively and engaging, and I genuinely look forward to meeting them again in A.J. Mackenzie's next Romney Marsh mystery.' * The Peoples Friend *
A high-stakes, atmospheric adventure * Library Journal *

Author Bio

A.J. MacKenzie is the pseudonym of Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, a collaborative Anglo-Canadian husband-and-wife duo. Between them they have written more than twenty non-fiction and academic titles, with specialisms including management, medieval economic history and medieval warfare.

THE BODY ON THE DOORSTEP (2016) was their first novel.