Gillian Linscott writing as Caro Peacock

A few years ago I was musing on the identity of Caro Peacock and after some investigation I discovered it was Gillian Linscott.

It seems that her new publisher Severn House are (correctly) capitalising on Ms Linscott's excellent reputation...

Bibliographies for: Caro Peacock and Gillian Linscott.

New Reviews: Janes, Kristian, McGilloway, Nadel, O'Connor, Sigurdardottir

Closing tomorrow:
Win a copy of Deadly Trade by Michael Stanley (Worldwide)
Win a copy of Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth (UK only).

Here are this week's reviews:

Maxine Clarke reviews Diane Janes's fiction debut, The Pull of the Moon (partly set in Birmingham);

Amanda Gillies goes back to the Vikings in the second in the Raven series by Giles Kristian - Sons of Thunder;

Michelle Peckham reviews the recently released paperback edition of Brian McGilloway's Bleed a River Deep, the third in this Irish Borderlands series;

Laura Root reviews the latest Cetin Ikman from Barbara Nadel Death by Design, in which Inspector Ikman goes undercover in London;

Terry Halligan reviews journalist Niamh O'Connor's debut If I Never See You Again the first in a series starring Dublin Superintendent Jo Birmingham

and Maxine also reviews the second in the Thora (and Matthew) series from Yrsa Sigurdardottir, tr. Bernard Scudder and Anna Yates - My Soul to Take which has an Agatha Christie style set-up.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

Caro Peacock=Gillian Linscott

Just to complete the story, I listened to the relevant part of Phil the Shelf last night and it was confirmed that Gillian Linscott is now writing as Caro Peacock. Despite her being an award winner, her last two books under her real name didn't sell well enough.

Here's the blurb for the first, of a projected three, in the Liberty Lane series:

Duelling, derring-do, and dastardly deeds are all in a day's work for Liberty Lane: a new heroine for fans of Matthew Hawkwood and Sarah Waters's Victorian novels. June 1837. She should have remained in the care of her sour aunt in Chalke Bissett, but Liberty Lane was never one to obey instructions. Eager to be reunited with her beloved father, she heads for Dover. But her hopes of surprising him as he steps off the boat are dashed by an anonymous note informing her that he has been killed in a duel at Calais, and commanding her to remain where she is and speak to no one. Thomas Jacques Lane -- radical, romantic, scholar, republican, gambler and devoted father -had led an unconventional life. His movements in the days leading up to his death are a mystery, but of one thing Liberty is certain: he would never have taken part in a duel, for it went against everything he believed in. And if the author of the anonymous note expected her to swallow this lie and meekly obey his command to stay put, he had severely underestimated Liberty Lane. With no resources bar her own wits, she immediately sets sail for Calais in pursuit of the truth - and her father's killer. And as the nation prepares to celebrate the coronation of young Queen Victoria, Liberty uncovers a treasonable plot which could lead to another vicious civil war!

Who is Caro Peacock?

I'm probably completely wrong on this but could these photos be of the same woman?

Author on the left is Caro Peacock, whose first book, Death at Dawn, has just come out. Author on the right is Gillian Linscott, whose last book came out in 2003. (A more recent but lower resolution photo is on the reviewingtheevidence site.)

From the author information on Death at Dawn: "Caro rides horses, climbs trampolines and spends some time every year studying wild flowers in the Alps."

From Tangled Web - Gillian Linscott has "passions for horse-riding and hill-walking."

Death at Dawn which is the first in the Liberty Lane series is set in 1837 and Gillian Linscott's Nell Bray series is set in the early 1900s.

Not much to go on, just a feeling of familiarity when I looked at the author photo on the jacket. Either way, Death at Dawn looks well worth checking out. The opening line is: "Would you be kind enough to tell me where they keep people's bodies".

Where are they now - Gillian Linscott?

A friend was asking me yesterday about new books by Gillian Linscott. It seems that she's not published anything since 2003. Linscott is probably most well known for her Nell Bray series about a sufragette, which currently numbers eleven. The first in the series, 'Sister Beneath the Sheet' is reviewed here at the women in world history site.

As well as a few standalones, she also wrote three books about ex policeman, Birdie Linnet early in her writing career. The first of the Birdie Linnet books is 'Healthy Body' which revolves around a French naturist centre and is reviewed here from a naturist's perspective.

If anyone can tell me if Gillian Linscott's still writing, please do drop me a note in the comments.

UPDATE Dec. 2007: Gillian Linscott is now writing as Caro Peacock.