THE HUMBUG MURDERS

Shortly before Christmas in Victorian England, Ebenezer Scrooge gets visited by his old mentor, Reginald Fezziwig. Well, his ghost, actually...

As the December nights grow long and cold in Victorian England, the Christmas geese are getting fat—as are the pockets of ambitious young moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge. In his Cheapside counting house, warmed by a solitary lump of coal, Ebenezer receives an early-morning visit from his old mentor, Reginald Fezziwig. Not that strange, except that Fezziwig claims to be dead. Murdered, in fact. And his ghost predicts other victims will follow— including Scrooge himself—unless Ebenezer finds the real culprit. Aided by an unconventional female clerk named Adelaide Owen, Ebenezer puts his keen mind and deductive reasoning to work in this vital venture. And as the two mingle with some of the city’s most colorful characters—the Artful Dodger, Fagin, even a wily young reporter named Charles Dickens—they discover a lurid world of vice, greed, and deadly appetites. But the truth is murkier than the Thames at twilight, and one misplaced word, one glance askew, and the ever-thrifty Scrooge and his fellow detective will be forced to pay the ultimate price... L.J. Oliver is the pseudonym for a New York Times bestselling writing team brought together by their shared passion for British mysteries, Victorian London, and Charles Dickens. They are making their collaborative debut with The Humbug Murders, the first in the Ebenezer Scrooge mystery series.