Devoured

Devoured is the first in D. E. Meredith’s series of Hatton and Roumande mysteries.

London in 1856 is gripped by a frightening obsession. The specimen-collecting craze is growing, and discoveries in far-off jungles are reshaping the known world in terrible and unimaginable ways. The new theories of evolution threaten to disrupt the fragile balance of power that keeps this chaotic city in order – a disruption that many would do anything to prevent.

When the glamorous Lady Bessingham is found murdered in her bedroom, surrounded by her vast collection of fossils and tribal masks, Professor Adolphus Hatton and his morgue assistant, Albert Roumande, are called into to examine the crime scene – and the body. In the new and suspicious world of forensics, Hatton and Roumande are the best. But the crime scene is not confined to one room. In their efforts to help Scotland Yard’s infamous Inspector Adams track down Lady Bessingham’s killer, Hatton and Roumande uncover a trail of murders which seem connected to a scroll of seditious letters that, if published, would change the face of society and religion forever.

Download the opening chapter of Devoured

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Read about Alfred Russel Wallace

Read about the history of forensics

Read about The Devil’s Ribbon, the second novel in D. E. Meredith’s Hatton and Roumande series