The Colours of Corruption

First in the Archie Price Mystery Series. 'Are you serious, Archie Price? Did you say I didn't go with the painting?' Mary, a desperately poor cleaner, is a witness to murder. Archie, one of the first artists to work for the police, draws the man she says she saw. Fascinated by her 'face full of bones' Archie persuades her to sit for a portrait, but the man who buys the picture would rather buy Mary herself. He doesn't realise the jeopardy his art has placed them in. Archie has no idea how this one woman links his wealthiest clients, the grimmest slums, dangerous secrets, and a violent obsessive man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. As her gripping thriller uncoils, Jacqueline Jacques paints an intricate, vibrant picture of the myriad layers of Victorian London, where the poor are commodities, criminals have nothing to lose and the rich can buy almost anything.

Jacqueline Jacques was born in Anglesey, North Wales but, having a close affinity with postwar Walthamstow, East London and nearby Epping Forest, is moved to set her novels in the area she knows best. Her working life as a teacher came to an end when the itch to write full-time became unbearable. Since then she has called herself a 'writer' though, nowadays, she finds other interests jostling for her attention, her long-suffering husband, Peter, not least among them. She busies herself, in shielded lockdown, with painting, crafting, working in the garden and on the allotment, attempting to convene the Buckhurst Hill U3A Bookclub on Zoom, and keeping their Creative Writing Group up to speed via email. Then, there are family and friends to enjoy, at a safe social distance, via WhatsApp and Zoom. Sadly, travel, holidays, theatre, concerts and art galleries are now relegated to being virtual pursuits. But the writing goes on, come heat wave or the hell of pandemic, while there's breath in her body and juice in her iPad.