Mr Dickens & The Mystery at Fort House

1857. Seventeen-year-old Louisa May has just lost her job as a London housemaid, when she is offered a fresh start by the celebrated Inspector Henry Hedge: five guineas to work undercover in the household of Charles Dickens to hunt down a thief. A sensitive document has been stolen from the great author’s study, and now he fears a scandal that could ruin his career.

Louisa is both excited and apprehensive to be given the challenge. She travels with the Inspector to Broadstairs, where Dickens has rented the cliff top Fort House for an extended seaside family holiday. Dickens is charming but volatile, his wife Catherine isolated and unhappy, and every member of the household seems to have something to hide. As Louisa is drawn deeper into the mystery, she begins to suspect that the missing document is only just the beginning.

Soon she finds herself trapped in a web of deception and must learn all the tricks of detection if she’s to uncover the truth...