Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott

Not only is this a beautifully written book, but it also happens to be extremely well researched, which is an irresistible combination for any lover of historical fiction based on a fascinating series of crimes that actually took place in the 17th century. I am referring to this debut novel by Rebecca Stott which takes a modern day murder and develops the theme of it as being possibly related to the murders that took place at Trinity College, Cambridge, where, amongst others, Isaac Newton was studying and eventually became a Professor of Mathematics. But, whilst Newton was solving the problems of Gravity and discovering that light was made up of a spectrum of colours, had he in fact gained his fellowship due to another’s demise?

This mystery is narrated by Lydia Brooke and is aimed at her previous boyfriend Cameron Brown. The story opens in 2002 when a body is found floating in the river Cam. The body turns out to be that of Elizabeth Vogelsang, a Cambridge historian who has been studying the alchemy experiments of Newton and the way in which he was ostensibly tied into the alchemy groups of Europe as opposed to being the lone wolf as he was so often described. As Elizabeth Vogelsang happened to be the mother of Cameron, he asks Lydia to complete the final chapter of the book on which his mother had been working.

When Lydia moves into Elizabeth’s house and starts working in her study, strange things start to happen, which, thankfully, are not simply left as ghostly happenings by the writer but are more closely tied to the animal rights activists that are in and around Cambridge, and the activities of Cameron who is working in a laboratory for a large pharmaceutical company where he is testing a new neurological drug on rats, which is being developed for highly questionable purposes.

Once the work is well underway, Lydia cannot resist rekindling the romance with Cameron and there is a well drawn comparison between the two today sending text messages to each other as compared to the ways of communication in Newton’s time at the university. Clearly, Cameron’s work is meant to be a modern version of the discoveries of Isaac Newton, in the same way that the modern day murders reflect the five murders that took place in the 17th century.

I don’t want to take anything away from other mystery writers when I say that this is a scholarly work; but when you read it I am sure you will see what I mean, especially in regard to the research, and thereby the storyline that is so cleverly linked to the real historical situations.

A superb piece of historical fiction, beautifully written.

Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott