The Lost Daughter

Jean Brash - the best brothel keeper in Victorian Edinburgh, businesswoman and a brilliant foil to the BBC's Inspector James McLevy - now turned sleuth in her own right. After Mistress of the Just Land, the second adventure in David Ashton's Jean Brash series...

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For fans of Elementary, Ripper Street and Sherlock Holmes - meet Jean Brash, a feisty, self-made woman turned sleuth in murky Victorian Edinburgh where crime and high society meet.

Jean Brash is beautiful, intelligent and in her prime. Owner of The Just Land, the best and most successful brothel in Victorian Edinburgh, she's seen the highs and lows of society and been on both sides of the law, much to the frustration of her sparring partner, Inspector James McLevy. And Jean has a mind to do some sleuthing of her own ...

It's Spring and Jean Brash is raring to go. A theatre company arrives in Leith to perform King Lear. A ruthless robbery is planned, a gruesome murder committed, both of which set off unwanted events and unearth long buried connections from Jean's past.

Even more lethally, her own lost family life explodes in the present, as a wild young actress who trails violence and death behind her, involves Jean in a dangerous complex game that threatens to destroy the very root of her identity and everything Jean has fought to achieve.

Jean Brash is my favourite character and David Ashton's writing is as delicious, elegant and compelling as she is' Siobhan Redmond (Jean Brash in BBC Radio 4's McLevy series)