In post-war Oxford, secrets lie behind every door.

In 1947, with rationing still biting and the black market thriving, university don C.S. ‘Jack’ Lewis finds himself pulled into a mystery straight from one of his friend Dorothy Sayers’ novels. Susan Temple, his brightest student, has been hidden away at Rake Hall — a hostel for unmarried, outcast mothers. But beneath the respectable façade, something sinister festers.

With no experience beyond catching the occasional student plagiarist, Lewis is hardly a detective. Yet, his curiosity piqued and his moral compass tugged – and alongside Susan’s friend Lucy, the daughter of a college servant – he delves into the unsavoury secrets of Oxford’s underbelly…

In The Mystery at Rake Hall, Maureen Paton – whose mother lived at the real-life Rake Hall while pregnant with Maureen – brilliantly recreates a post-war Oxford world, as well as imagining an alternative life for one of its most famous residents.

The first in a superb new historical crime series in which C.S. Lewis finds himself an unlikely detective

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maureen Paton is a freelance journalist specialising in arts, showbusiness and women's issues. She is the author of two works of non-fiction, and is a former committee member and former newsletter editor of the campaigning organisation Women in Journalism. The Mystery at Rake Hall is her first novel.