An Oxford Scandal — Norman Russell

Set in the late Victorian era, An Oxford Scandal is the third book in Norman Russell's ‘Oxford' series of detective novels. The book follows Anthony Jardine, a successful and popular tutor at St. Gabriel's College, as he finds his loyalties divided between his work, his wife Dora and his mistress Rachel. Unbeknown to Anthony, Dora is an advanced cocaine addict and he comes to resent her outrageous activities more and more, absorbing himself with the discovery of the remains of St Thomas à Becket in a hidden vault at the college. One rainy night Dora is found murdered in a tramcar out at Cowley and Jardine, who had been visiting Rachel in that area, becomes a suspect. The case is investigated by Inspector James Antrobus and his friend Sophia Jex-Blake, the pioneer woman doctor. A complex investigation follows and after Jardine's mistress is murdered, the clues take Antrobus to London, when the mystery starts to unravel and the killer is revealed in a grand climax... Inspired by the work of Edmund Crispin and John Dixon Carr, An Oxford Scandal takes the form of classical detective fiction with an academic angle. The book also contains a humorous subplot in which Catholics and Anglicans fight over ownership of the relics. The book will appeal to fans of historical and crime fiction, as well as readers who have enjoyed Norman's previous work.