The Devil in Marshalsea

Thomas Hawkins is in debt, however offered the chance to get out of it partially by paying off half of it, he gambles and wins ten pounds.  Unfortunately on his way home he is waylaid and robbed.  It isn't long before he is in chains and on his way to Marshalsea Gaol.

Hawkins is shocked at what he finds inside.  Not only is it filthy, but everything is going to cost him.  How will he manage on the little funds that he has available?  Samuel Fleet, an old hand in the prison takes an immediate interest in Hawkins.  Is this a good thing or a bad one?

The first day he is informed of a murder that had occurred recently within the prison's walls.  Surprisingly Hawkins looks very much like the victim.  Apparently the ghost of the victim still haunts the prison.  Many in the prison feel that Fleet was responsible for the murder.  Later that day he meets William Acton, the man in charge.  Acton is beating a 13 year old boy when Hawkins meets him.

Hawkins finds himself placed in the same cell as Fleet, who everyone regards as a killer.  The following morning the pair are informed of a visitation by a ghost to the prison during the night.  The lad who saw the ghost informs Hawkins that the ghost has summoned him for a visitation the following night.

Hawkins is asked by a friend to investigate the murder; or is it a suicide as Acton claims it to be?

Author Antonia Hodgson has done a superb job of describing the squalor of life in Marshalsea Gaol during the 18th century.  She presents plenty of potential killers, but the reader is left wondering right up to the last minute.  A thoroughly good and enjoyable read.