The cover of Down a Dark River

Down a Dark River

Karen Lootens Odden ’87

Kirkus calls Odden’s mystery a “harrowing tale of unbridled vice that exposes the dark underbelly of Victorian society.” Set in London in spring 1878, it marks the debut of her protagonist: senior inspector Michael Corravan, a former bare-knuckle boxer and stevedore who rose from humble roots as a poor orphan to the upper ranks of the police force. In the midst of investigating the disappearance of the missing wife of a shipping magnate, Corravan is pulled off the case when the body of a prominent judge’s daughter is found in a rowboat drifting in the Thames. As other women are discovered in the river in similar circumstances, Corravan not only seeks to bring the evildoer to justice, but begins to suspect that his original missing person’s case may be connected to the other crimes. Odden, who holds PhD in English literature from NYU, is the author of several previous Victorian-era mysteries including A Dangerous Duet and A Lady in the Smoke.

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