The Bedlam Cadaver

In late 17th Century London rich young women are being kidnapped, then murdered. Harry Hunt, formerly of the Royal Society but now a rich gentleman, is falsely accused. To clear his name, he must rely on his abandoned scientific expertise and battle the full force of the British aristocracy.

1681. London cooks in summer heat. Bonfires are lit in protest against the King’s brother, James, heir to the throne but openly Catholic. Rumours abound of a ‘Black Box’, said to conceal proof the King’s illegitimate son is really the rightful heir.

When a wealthy merchant’s daughter is kidnapped and murdered—even though a ransom was paid—the King orders Harry Hunt of the Royal Society to help investigate.

A second woman goes missing: Elizabeth Thynne, England’s richest heiress. Her husband has a ransom letter from the same kidnappers.

Pressured by powerful men to find the killers and rescue Elizabeth, Harry uncovers a disturbing link to Bethlehem Hospital, better known as Bedlam.

But he is falsely accused of the crimes.

To prove his innocence, he must find the real culprits. Harry’s search takes him from Rotherhithe to Whitehall Palace, and to the house of Sir Peter Lely, the famous portrait-painter, in Covent Garden.

And back to Bedlam.

He has the Monarchy’s future in his hands.

Robert Lloyd, the son of parents who worked in the British Foreign Office, grew up in South London, Innsbruck, and Kinshasa. He studied for a Fine Art degree, starting as a landscape painter, but it was while studying for his MA degree in the History of Ideas that he first read Robert Hooke's diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary man. After a twenty-year career as a secondary school teacher, he has now returned to painting and writing, and is working on the fourth book in the Hunt and Hooke series.