I loved this mystery read. Based on a real institution this is a really good read.

I loved the telling of the story and the characters were fabulous. i loved getting to know them.

The story has an air of real life as there are names the reader will know and based in Post War Oxford the author brought to life the time beautifully,

I cannot wait to see what she offers for her second book but this one will be hard to top

Its 1947 in post WW2 Oxford. C.S. 'Jack' Lewis (author of many religious works as well as The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is teaching and has become concerned because one of his brightest students, Susan Temple has ceased attending lectures and for the last few lectures she looked 'different'. Ever wary of being seen to take an interest in young women whilst being a single man, Jack makes discreet inquiries.

Meanwhile, Susan, who is pregnant after being taken advantage of while drunk, has decided to enter Rake Hall, a local home for unwed mothers. She has taken Lucy Standen into her confidence. Lucy's father Alfred is a Scout (sort of servant) at Oxford and didn't report Susan when he saw her leaving a gentleman's rooms after curfew. When Susan allegedly leaves Rake Hall without notifying Lucy she is concerned and reaches out to Jack. Together they uncover a black-market trade in adoption of babies.

I recently read a murder mystery featuring Virginia Woolf and it didn't really work for me. Strangely, although this follows a similar premise, a famous real-life writer solving a mystery, I liked it much better. Although I felt it a bit obvious with some of the inferences that events/thoughts influenced C.S. Lewis' Narnia series (just look at the names of the other characters) - which reminded me of that advert way back suggesting that George Lucas based his Star Wars characters on people he saw on campus while at college, I really enjoyed it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Very easy to read, a page-turner and a real sense of Oxford, a city I know well. Where has a very promising female student in post-World War II Oxford gone? She has impressed her tutor - one CS 'Jack' Lewis, and befriended a young woman working at the OUP. Together, they investigate, and uncover a conspiracy involving unmarried women and their babies. This definitely shows the other side of Oxford.

With thanks to NetGalley and Swift Press for an ARC.