In the Dead of Night: A Novel. Volume 1 (of 3)

The storm breaks over the coast as Lionel Dering makes his way home through the darkness. A figure teeters at the cliff's edge, a stranger whose life hangs by a thread. Lionel doesn't think, only acts. He pulls the man to safety, never imagining this stranger will die that very night, never suspecting he'll wake to find himself the prime suspect in a murder. When Lionel discovers Percy Osmond killed in his locked room, the noose of suspicion tightens around his own neck. He fought with the victim hours before. He has no alibi. And someone in the house clearly knows more than they're saying. This is Victorian sensation fiction at its finest: dark, claustrophobic, and utterly addictive. Speight builds his mystery with the patience of a master, layering suspicion, secrets, and the quiet dread of a house that keeps its own terrible counsel. The question isn't just who killed Percy Osmond, but whether Lionel can prove his innocence before the world decides he's guilty. For readers who crave the gothic chill of Wilkie Collins and the drawn-out dread of a locked-room mystery, this is Victorian dark fiction at its most satisfying.