The Mystery at Rake Hall: C.S. Lewis investigates

by Maureen Paton

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SYNOPSIS

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 hidden herself away at Rake Hall - a hostel for unmarried, outcast mothers – and hasn't been heard from since.

With no experience beyond catching the occasional student plagiarist, Lewis is hardly a detective. But when Susan's absence continues to haunt him, he teams up with her concerned friend Lucy and together they delve into the disturbing rumours of a nasty racket at Rake Hall. Can Lewis's nose for the truth separate fact from fiction?

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.

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REVIEW

The author C. S. Lewis is teaching at Oxford University when he realises that he hasn't seen one of his favourite students, Susan, recently. It's very out of character as at this time it was a challenge for females to be taken seriously in an academic environment and often had to work harder than their fellow male students. Shortly after he is contacted by Lucy, one of Susan's friends, with the information that Susan had suddenly disappeared from Rake Hall (a hostel for unmarried mothers). Lucy is determined that something bad has happened and asks for help. The pair then get started on a plan to infiltrate the hostel and find out the truth.

The historical Oxford academic setting was spot on, the characters, their demeanour and the whole atmosphere of the story just worked. It was also obvious from reading that the author had done plenty of research to get the main protagonist, C. S. Lewis, as correct as possible which was confirmed in the acknowledgements and references. The way his real life friends were mentioned - Dorothy Sayers, J R R Tolkein etc, even down to the cultural references of the 1947 film Black Narcissus. This gave a sense of reality to a fictional story. C. S. Lewis obviously had a brilliant mind so it just made sense to me that if he had found himself in this situation, he would definitely try to solve the mystery of his missing student. Because of the subject matter and the way the mystery was investigated, I got a vibe of a Famous Five mystery but for an adult audience. There was a missing person and illegal activity taking place but it was never gory or violent, but at the same time the topics were serious so it kind of sat in the middle for me - somewhere between a historical thriller and cosy crime. A really enjoyable read.

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Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Maureen Paton @maureen_paton and Swift Press @_SwiftPress for the opportunity to read and review.

Publisher: Swift Press Genre: Historical Thriller / Mystery

ISBN: 978-1800754836

Pages: 288pp