The Girl in the Gallery by Alice Castle.    OUT TODAY! 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Dulwich…

It’s a perfect summer’s morning in the plush south London suburb, and thirty-something Beth Haldane has sneaked off to visit one of her favourite places, the world-famous Picture Gallery.

She’s enjoying a few moments’ respite from juggling her job at prestigious private school Wyatt’s and her role as single mum to little boy Ben, when she stumbles across a shocking new exhibit on display. Before she knows it, she’s in the thick of a fresh, and deeply chilling, investigation.

Who is The Girl in the Gallery? Join Beth in adventure #2 of the London Murder Mystery series as she tries to discover the truth about a secret eating away at the very heart of Dulwich.

From Alice:

Thanks so much, Lizzie, for hosting me today on your blog. It’s great to be able to have a chat about my second whodunit, The Girl in the Gallery, which is coming out on 19^th December.

The Girl in the Gallery is number two in my London Murder Mystery series and, as the title suggests, it starts off in a picture gallery. The gallery is based on the real life Dulwich Picture Gallery, one of my favourite places, which is not only a superb building but also houses an amazing art collection. When I realised it was celebrating 200 years of art for the public this year, I was determined to make it the backdrop to a murder mystery and, thanks to my publisher Crooked Cat, we’ve just got it out in time.

Dulwich Picture Gallery is a very odd building and, although its use of light from above to maximise wall space has been copied around the world, there’s one aspect of this structure which has never been replicated. That’s the mausoleum at its centre, which houses the dead bodies of the founders of the art collection. Their remains are so beautifully packaged that you can walk straight past them without quite knowing what you are seeing, but I thought it would make a wonderfully gothic place to find a body, and that’s what gave me the idea for The Girl in the Gallery.

The book is concerned with issues of identity and pressure on teenage girls, whether it’s the compulsion to establish an online profile at an age when most adolescents don’t really know who they are, or whether it’s the eating disorders and massive exam stress that sadly affect so many high-achieving girls.

Despite dealing with some series issues, the book is light-hearted and I hope has a comic twist, thanks to characters like Belinda MacKenzie, the scary uber-mummy who dominates the playground, and Beth Haldane herself. Beth is my single mum amateur sleuth, bringing up a ten-year-old on her own and, thanks to her determination, persistence and a distinct reckless streak, determined to find out who The Girl in the Gallery really is, and what has befallen her. Along the way, she has the assistance of DI Harry York, whose pragmatic attitude to crime is at odds with Beth’s fixation with justice.

Although The Girl in the Gallery is the second in a series which started with Death in Dulwich, it can be read independently. I hope, though, that you’ll get the bug and want to read on. If you do, then Calamity in Camberwell is due out in 2018 and there will be more Beth adventures to follow.

You can buy the book here: MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery, and find Death in Dulwich here: MyBook.to/1DeathinDulwich

Alice Castle Contact: