Tessa Harris launches a new series with a mystery that takes readers back to 1888 and the streets of Whitechapel. Stories of Jack the Ripper frightened and tantalized the residents of London’s East End. Now, in The Sixth Victim, Harris tells of a few women affected by the times.

Constance Piper is a Cockney flower girl, but she has dreams of more. A missionary teacher, Emily Tindall, took Constance under her wing, offering her books and advice. But, Miss Tindall has disappeared. Despite Constance’s fear of the nighttime killer, she’s desperate to find the missing woman. She just doesn’t realize how close she is.

It’s a theater performance that Constance attends with her sister that leads to the discovery of her gift. Constance has premonitions about some of the deaths, seeing them before they occur. When a well-to-do woman contacts her, she asks her to discover if her missing sister is alive. Constance’s clairvoyance will lead her to discoveries of a gruesome nature, including the whereabouts of her missing teacher.

Deception, missing women and girls, psychics, murder. Harris’ The Sixth Victim is an atmospheric mystery that brings the streets and people of Whitechapel to life. Even the style of writing, the phrasing, seems a little old-fashioned. However, that just adds to the mystery and power of the book. Here’s an example of Harris’ writing. “The truth is Jack the Ripper will always stalk the streets of London – and Paris and New York and every city in the world. He looms large at every ill-lit corner and in every narrow walkway. He sits next to you in a railway carriage and mingles in hotel lobbies.” A little frightening? The Sixth Victim is a little frightening. It’s an intriguing kickoff to a new historical crime novel series.

Tessa Harris’ website is www.TessaHarrisAuthor.com

The Sixth Victim by Tessa Harris. Kensington. 2017. ISBN 9781496706546 (hardcover), 304p.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received the book to review it for a journal.